J21 Tube's video: Girl 6 is beating the odds against incurable brain tumor a year after she was told

Girl, 6, is beating the odds against incurable brain tumor a year after she was told she had 9 months to live thanks to a clinical trial Layla Evetts, six, of Burleson, Texas, was diagnosed with a Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) in February 2018 DIPGs are rare and inoperable brain tumors with a two-year survival rate of 10% Layla was enrolled in a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Doctors administered radiation and an oral chemotherapy drug over a year An MRI in June showed that, in a rare instance, Layla's tumor had shrunk by nearly half The kindergartner finished the clinical trial this month and, while her tumor has not shrunk anymore, it has also not grown A six-year-old girl is beating the odds against an incurable brain tumor one year after being told she had nine months to live. Layla Evetts, of Burleson, Texas, was diagnosed with a tumor known as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) in February 2018. Her parents, Corey Evetts and Amanda Perry, were told that because of the tumor's location, it was inoperable and that she wouldn't live to see her next birthday. Not satisfied with this grim diagnosis, her parents did some research until they found a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Doctors would try a combination of radiation and an oral chemotherapy drug to shrink Layla's tumor. One year later, the tumor has shrunk by nearly half and has stopped growing - and the medical team have told Layla's parents that, as long as she's stable, she can be considered nearly cured. Experts in the field say the results are promising, but that there is no road map to know whether or not his treatment will work in future DIPG patients.