energy

Local 4-Year-Old Boy's Cancer in Remission After Experimental Stem Cell Treatment at Sylvester Cancer Center

The Flash is the favorite superhero of 4-year-old Jovon Moss, who is his mother's real-life hero as he is fighting a rare form of lymphoma through an experimental stem cell treatment.

Jovon is being treated in the Alex's Place pediatric center that's part of the University of Miami Health System's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Jovon's flu-like symptoms began last September. Extreme fatigue and weight loss followed and led to the diagnosis of a rare immune disorder called X-linked Lymphoproliferative Syndrome.

“When he was first sick and he wasn’t doing anything and he wasn’t acting like his normal self; that’s when I was like 'No, there’s something wrong,'" Brittany Fluellen, Jovon's mother, said. "It’s not normal for a 3-year-old to just be laying around and not playing. He wasn’t eating.”

Jovon is under the care of Gary Kleiner, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at UM who specializes in pediatric stem cell transplant and primary immune deficiencies.

Kleiner said about one in a million patients are affected by the immune disorder. The cancer center had to receive special approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat cancer and infectious mononucleosis affecting Jovon with an experimental stem cell infusion.

The cancer is in remission. Jovon is waiting for a bone marrow transplant to continue his treatment that will hopefully allow him to return to his life as a happy, healthy little boy.

“It’s nice to see him back in a Halloween costume and back to himself – playful," Kleiner said. "We have a long way to go with a stem cell transplant but we’ve made it so far, so good, and I’m thrilled that he’s doing so well now.”

Fluellen said she is not sure where Jovon would be today if it were not for the treatment, but she's "very grateful that he’s here.”

“When he was sick he wasn’t able to do anything. He didn’t have the energy to do anything. The energy that he has now, no. He has a lot of energy right now. He’s making up for the lost time," Fluellen said.

Contact Us