housed the ward for adults who had
chronic myeloid leukemia. CML is a
form of leukemia that overproduces
white blood cells. The patients’ cell-
making machinery goes into overdrive.
The children Freireich was treating, by
contrast, had acute lymphocytic
leukemia. It’s a cancer that results in the
overproduction of defective white blood
cells—which is why they are helpless in
the face of infection. So Freireich began
taking blood from adults with cancer of
the blood on the twelfth floor and giving
it to children with cancer of the blood on
the second floor. Was it considered
unusual to take white cells from CML
patients? “Insane,” Freireich said,
darren dugan
(Darren Dugan)
#1