After Relapsed/Refractory Lymphoma and a Long Search for Care, Autologous Transplant Combined with CAR-T Brings Five Years of Sustained Remission

Article Summary: Yanyan (pseudonym) was 19 and had just started university when a persistent cough led to a diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Her disease initially responded to treatment, but relapsed only three months later, and subsequent therapy provided limited benefit. At one point, she felt close to giving up. In 2020, after her family searched widely for another treatment option, Yanyan came to Beijing GoBroad Boren Hospital. The specialist team developed an individualized strategy to reduce her tumor burden, followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation combined with CAR-T cell therapy to give her the best chance of durable remission. Now, five years after treatment, Yanyan remains in complete remission. She has returned to an ordinary, fulfilling life and hopes her experience can encourage others who are still going through treatment.

Youth is supposed to be full of possibilities: enjoying life, chasing dreams, and imagining the future. But sometimes it also means facing a life-threatening illness head-on and fighting with everything you have.

In 2019, 19-year-old Yanyan (pseudonym), a university student from Inner Mongolia, was diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Chemotherapy at another hospital initially brought the disease under control, but only three months later it relapsed. Further chemotherapy had little effect. Again and again, Yanyan and her family allowed themselves to hope, only to be met with disappointment. Just as she was close to giving up, they heard about Beijing GoBroad Boren Hospital through other patients and began looking there for another chance. With an individualized combination of chemotherapy, autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and CAR-T cell immunotherapy, Yanyan eventually achieved complete remission (CR). Today, she has passed the five-year milestone with reassuring follow-up results. The young woman who once cried from her hospital bed that she wanted to stop treatment has moved beyond that chapter and stepped into a new life of her own.

Photo from her five-year complete remission follow-up

A Cancer Diagnosis Put My Life on Pause

In 2019, I had just started my second year of university. If life had gone as expected, I would have been doing what other people my age were doing: going to class, shopping, traveling with friends, taking photos, and trying different foods. Instead, life suddenly took a very different turn.

At first, I only had a cough and assumed it was a common cold. I did not think much of it until the shortness of breath became worse and even climbing stairs left me breathless. A CT scan led to devastating news. Pathology ultimately confirmed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This type is more common in adults. My disease was in the mediastinum and accompanied by fibrous connective tissue proliferation, almost like a layer of 'armor' around the tumor cells, which made conventional chemotherapy more difficult to penetrate and the disease more challenging to treat.

At first, I did not know the full truth about my condition. My parents were afraid the diagnosis would be too much for me, so they tried to protect me with a well-intentioned explanation. I had always been healthy growing up, and even while lying in an ICU bed, I was still relatively calm.

That changed when I watched a patient in the bed next to mine being covered with a yellow sheet and wheeled away. Then I heard heart-wrenching crying outside the room. In that moment, it suddenly hit me: death was much closer than I had realized.

Eventually, my attending doctor told me the truth. She looked at me seriously and asked, 'Do you understand how serious this disease is?' I said I did not, but I was not afraid. Looking back, I suppose I simply did not yet understand enough to be afraid.

Caught Between Hope and Despair: Remission Lasted Only Three Months Before Relapse

Once treatment really began, I understood just how hard it could be.

My first chemotherapy regimen was standard R-CHOP. The nausea, vomiting, and hair loss were overwhelming. Vomiting was the hardest part. Other patients might feel sick for two or three days, but I would vomit for half a month, sometimes until there was only bile left, and I became so weak I could barely manage a spoonful of porridge. Standing or walking for long periods was exhausting. I looked in the mirror at my bald head, hunched posture, and steroid-related 'moon face' and could hardly recognize the person looking back at me.

Meanwhile, people my age were still living the life that had once felt completely normal to me - going to class, traveling, meeting friends, taking pictures. I felt as if everyone else was moving forward while I had been forced to stay still.

But was I going to let that defeat me? No. If chemotherapy made me vomit, I would still try to eat. If I felt low, I would find something to distract myself. My life could not stay on pause forever.

So I pushed through eight cycles of chemotherapy. By the end of 2019, PET/CT showed complete metabolic response (CMR). I was overjoyed. I thought the chemotherapy was finally over and I could go back to normal life.

That happiness lasted only three months. In April 2020, follow-up testing showed a new FDG-avid lesion in the mediastinum, raising concern for relapse. I completely broke down when I saw the result. How could it come back so quickly? Hadn't I already been told I was in remission?

My doctors recommended another needle biopsy to confirm the diagnosis, but because of the tumor's location and the procedural risk, I declined. I then received R-DHAP chemotherapy. I forced myself through another full course, only to find at follow-up that the tumor had not shrunk - it had grown.

Each new hope seemed to end in another disappointment. I felt completely powerless, as if no matter how hard I tried, I could not escape the disease. I kept crying to my family, 'Why me? I'm exhausted. I want to give up.'

Fortunately, my parents refused to give up on me. My mother said, 'You're only in your early twenties. There are still so many beautiful things in life you haven't experienced. Your dad and I don't want you to give up so young. We helped you through this once - let us help you again. Don't give up. You are what keeps us going.'

My father kept searching for lymphoma specialists. Through another patient, he learned about Dr. Shaomei Feng and the lymphoma team at Beijing GoBroad Boren Hospital. That patient had a similar situation and had achieved complete remission after treatment at Boren.

Precision Treatment: Autologous Transplant Combined with CAR-T Brings a New Beginning

In November 2020, with what felt like our last remaining hope, my family and I came to Beijing GoBroad Boren Hospital. I was emotionally overwhelmed that day and cried, 'I don't want any more treatment.' Instead of becoming frustrated, the doctor patiently encouraged me to try one more time. When she learned how severe my chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting had been, she reassured me, 'We'll find a way to make it easier on you.'

After admission, the specialist team reassessed my condition from the beginning. To clarify the diagnosis, they arranged a needle biopsy of the mediastinal mass and sent the specimen for expert pathology review by Professor Zifen Gao. I later learned that Professor Gao is a leading lymphoma pathologist in China. The review confirmed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, with features favoring primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma.

Based on that detailed reassessment, the team developed a comprehensive, individualized treatment plan. To reduce my tumor burden, I received antitumor immunotherapy combined with multi-agent chemotherapy. After the first course, contrast-enhanced chest CT showed that the tumor had shrunk by more than two-thirds, giving our whole family renewed hope. After the second course, PET/CT showed complete remission. I was so happy I could hardly hold back tears.

The team then moved to the most important stage of treatment: autologous stem cell transplantation combined with CAR-T cell therapy. There was one small episode before I entered the transplant unit. I tried to bargain with the doctors, saying, 'I'll do CAR-T, but I don't want the transplant!' In the end, with a lot of reassurance and persuasion, I went into the transplant unit. On February 5, 2021, I underwent autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. On February 8, I received an infusion of murine CD19-directed CAR-T cells. Both procedures went smoothly.

Looking back now, the transplant itself was not as frightening as I had imagined, and the stem cell infusion was actually quite straightforward. The hardest part was the high-dose conditioning chemotherapy beforehand. I felt constantly nauseated without being able to vomit, and the mouth ulcers were even worse - my entire mouth was covered with them and I could not eat. I weighed about 60 kilograms before treatment and just over 40 kilograms when I left the transplant unit.

But I made it through. PET/CT after leaving the transplant unit showed complete remission. I had won that round.

Throughout treatment, the specialist team closely monitored my condition and treated side effects promptly. At my previous hospital, every chemotherapy cycle left me vomiting for half a month. At Boren, with careful symptom management, I usually had only a couple of days of nausea and could still manage to eat a little. The overall treatment experience was much more manageable. Dr. Shaomei Feng was like an older sister. She would smile and ask how I was doing on every ward round, and she was always patient. My mother later said, 'At Boren, we never felt that same fear or tension. The doctors and nurses felt like friends and family. They always answered our questions and were incredibly patient.'

Turning Toward the Sun: Five Years in Complete Remission, and Back to Everyday Life

Today, I have been in complete remission for five years. I still remember one follow-up visit when Dr. Feng was delighted for me and said, 'You finally don't need to keep coming back. You're free.'

Looking back, I understand more deeply how fragile and precious life can be. In the darkest period, the thing that carried me through was simply refusing to give up. My parents were a huge part of that, but so was the medical team at Boren. I want to say thank you to Dr. Feng and to every doctor and nurse who helped me. If I had not met you when I did, I might truly have stopped treatment. You encouraged me with extraordinary patience, almost as if you were coaxing a frightened child, and helped me press the restart button on my life. I will never forget that.

Now I have finally returned to an ordinary life: working, shopping and eating out with friends, and using my camera to capture the small, beautiful moments that make everyday life worth remembering.

I once wrote in an essay, 'A few hundred words can never capture everything we go through during treatment, but I want to tell people facing something similar: nothing has the right to put our lives on permanent pause. The restart button is still in our hands.' I still want to say the same thing today. I understand the discomfort, despair, and helplessness that treatment can bring. But even if life has been forced onto pause, it can start again. Keep going. There is still a road ahead.