Timothy Ray Brown, the first person known to have been cured of the HIV infection, is now terminally ill following a recurrence of leukemia.
Brown, from America, was working as a translator in Berlin when he learned that he had contracted HIV. In 2006, he was diagnosed with blood cancer.
Dubbed the ‘Berlin patient’, Brown had a transplant from a donor who was blessed with a rare, natural resistance to the AIDS virus. The process looked to be successful as it cured his leukemia and HIV. After so many years, he shows no signs of HIV, but unfortunately the blood cancer has recurred.
He said in an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday that his cancer returned last year and has spread widely. He’s receiving hospice care in Palm Springs, California, where he lives now
“I’m still glad that I had it,” Brown said of his transplant.
“It opened up doors that weren’t there before and inspired scientists to work harder to find a cure, which many had begun to think was not possible,” said the 54-year-old American.
AIDS specialist at University of California Dr Steven Deeks, who has worked with Brown, said: “Timothy proved that HIV can be cured, but that’s not what inspires me about him. We took pieces of his gut, we took pieces of his lymph nodes. Every time he was asked to do something, he showed up with amazing grace.”
