Paul Edmonds: California's 'City of Hope' patient becomes fifth in the world to be cured of HIV
DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA: Paul Edmonds, 67, a man dubbed as California’s ‘City of Hope’ patient, has become the fifth person in the world to be cured of HIV. Edmonds, who battled HIV for more than 30 years alongside a 2018 leukemia diagnosis, was reportedly cured of the disease by a life-saving stem cell transplant, which came from a donor who had a rare genetic mutation that makes the body resistant to most strains of HIV. The 67-year-old stopped taking HIV medication in 2021 after being dependent on pills for most part of his life and is now free of the disease.
Edmonds underwent treatment as part of an extremely exclusive club, which only had five members and remained anonymous throughout his journey, according to USA Today. However, he recently shared his story with The Desert Sun. “I can remember the day and hearing about Timothy Ray Brown (the first person to get cured of HIV), that was huge. That was the first time that I ever thought there could be a cure,” Edmonds said, adding, “I still have to remind myself that it's real. But I'm feeling it."
READ MORE
The Miracle of Alyssa: Girl, 13, defeats terminal leukemia after revolutionary gene therapy
Who is Paul Edmonds?
Edmonds is among the only five people in the world cured of HIV. He reportedly grew up in a small town in Georgia, about 100 miles northeast of Atlanta, and struggled with his sexual identity during high school, as per USA Today. Despite the absence of a support system, Edmonds’ involvement in his school’s band was a “lifesaver,” the outlet reported.
Edmonds decided to live with his cousins in Pensacola, Florida, by the end of his senior year. He finished high school and started college in Florida before moving back to Atlanta. He eventually received therapy and was able to “accept who I was and come out” as a gay man after finding support. He decided to move to San Francisco in 1976 at the age of 21. “Gay men were kind of flocking there from all over at that time,” he told The Desert Sun, adding, “It was just an unbelievable experience. I'd never seen anything like it, and I no longer felt alone. It was just exciting and thrilling."
Edmonds’ life was “just great” until many of his peers starting falling sick in the '80s. “No one knew what was going on,” he said, adding that many referred to the condition as “gay cancer” at the time. The first HIV blood test was developed by the mid-'80s and Edmonds was diagnosed with AIDS at the age of 33. During the initial diagnosis, he was reportedly not ready to get the test results. “Anyone who I knew who was testing positive was dead within two years. I just wasn't ready to go there,” Edmonds told the publication.
Edmonds said that his father’s death in 1988 served as the catalyst for him to get tested. Edmonds was diagnosed with AIDS as his helper T cell count was below 200. “It just felt like my heart sank,” he recalled, adding, “The intern who was my doctor in this clinic, I can see her emotions. I think it was a hard thing for her to do."
Soon, he began using AZT, the first drug the US Food and Drug Administration approved for treating AIDS. Although the drug helped decrease deaths and infections, it reportedly had serious side effects, such as intestinal problems, nausea, vomiting and headaches.
Despite his various health struggles, Edmonds soldiered on. He said that he always dreamed of having a huge party for his 50th birthday and finally had such a massive celebration with 100 guests in a lodge on the Russian River. Edmonds also said that the LGBTQ community acted as an “incredible” support system in his life and “stepped forward” to help him when no one else would.
Edmonds met his husband, Arnie House, during happy hour at a San Francisco bar, Midnight Sun, in February 1992. House had served in the Air Force in the past. “It really was kind of like love at first sight. I don't know that we knew that right then, but that's what it was,” Edmonds recalled, adding, “Once we met, we've had very few days apart.” Edmonds also encouraged House to get tested for HIV, which came out positive. However, the duo continued to stay together and were always “there for each other,” Edmonds said.
Edmonds was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome in August 2018. The condition eventually developed into acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer that begins in the bone marrow but often moves into the blood. Doctors recommended Edmonds to start chemotherapy and advised him to undergo a stem cell transplant. He was then referred to seek treatment at City of Hope in Duarte, California, one the highest-volume bone marrow and blood stem cell transplant centers in the nation, per USA Today.
Why is Paul Edmonds called the ‘City of Hope’ patient?
Edmonds was reportedly cured of HIV through stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that makes the body resistant to most strains of HIV. During treatment, all five of the patients were nicknamed for privacy reasons. Edmonds was known as the ‘City of Hope’ patient as he was undergoing treatment at the City of Hope centre in Duarte, California.
Doctors at the facility reportedly looked for a donor to treat Edmonds’ leukemia, who would also carry a rare mutation, the homozygous CCR5 delta 32 mutation, which would make people resistant to most strains of HIV infection. Only roughly 1% of people carry this mutation, the publication noted. At the time of Edmonds’ treatment, four other people who were declared in remission of HIV already have received transplants that targeted their HIV and a type of cancer. Nearly a month after the plan, Edmonds found a donor via the Be The Match donor registry. Before Edmonds could undergo the transplant, his acute myeloid leukemia had to be in remission. He reportedly went through three rounds of chemotherapy, and even developed a fungal infection in his lungs during one, USA Today reported.
Edmonds also had to change his antiretroviral drugs to minimize drug interactions with his chemotherapy. His leukemia reportedly went into full remission in January 2019 after he undertook a reduced intensity chemotherapy developed for older patients. After another week of chemotherapy, which he declared to be the “hardest of all of them,” his immune system was wiped out to prepare his body to receive the donor's healthy stem cells. “I didn't have to think at all (about) whether I wanted to move forward to get a bone marrow transplant. It was that or death,” Edmonds shared.
On February 6, 2019, Edmonds underwent a transplant that lasted between 30 to 40 minutes. “New life came into me,” he told The Desert Sun. He also shared that his blood type changed to his donor’s, a common case in transplants. “I was kind of hoping I would start getting some new hair, but that didn't happen. That's OK,” he joked. Some of his lingering side effects were dry eyes and mouth sores. However, he was cured of HIV.
“I monitored him for any occurrence of HIV virus and this entailed getting blood tests on him every week initially and then converted to every two weeks just because we wanted to catch if there was any recurrence in the system and start him back on his medications,” Dr Jana Dickter, associate clinical professor with City of Hope’s Division of Infectious Diseases, said in a statement. “The longer the time went, there was no evidence of circulating HIV,” she added.
Edmonds also underwent additional testing like challenging the cells in his body with HIV, but none could be infected with the virus. Doctors said that there was no evidence of an HIV reservoir in Edmonds’ body. He officially stopped taking HIV medication in March 2021.
Who are the other patients cured of HIV?
Along with Edmonds, was Palm Springs resident Timothy Ray Brown, who was known as “Berlin Patient,” the first person to be cured of HIV who died from a reoccurrence of cancer in 2020. Others three individuals are, “London Patient” Adam Castillejo, “Dusseldorf Patient” Marc Franke, and the “New York Patient,” who has not revealed their identity in public. Edmonds is reportedly the eldest among the five to be cured of HIV and carried the virus for the longest period of time.
‘God bless him’
Social media users took to Facebook to react to Edmonds’ miraculous recovery. “God bless him and the others,” one user wrote. “I wish this could have happened sooner but happy it’s here now,” added another. “Great news,” a third commented. One said, “Thanks for sharing these medical miracles,” while another exclaimed, “Wow, this is amazing!”
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.