The Story of Timothy Brown, Who Conquered HIV and Almost Paid With His Life

Currently, 37 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS. Until recently, scientists considered this virus to be incurable, but Timothy Ray Brown’s story refutes that claim. Timothy is the so-called “Berlin patient”, the first person who managed to get rid of HIV. His recovery filled millions of patients with hope. However, for him to be diagnosed as “healthy”, the protagonist of our story went through terrible obstacles, which no one would wish on their worst enemy.

O incredible.club believes that one day the world will be rid of HIV. In the meantime, let’s talk about this brave person who overcame two fatal illnesses and showed that anything is possible in life.

Timothy was born in the USA and at the age of 25 he decided to change his life by going to Europe. After several years travelling, he settled in Berlin. There he worked as a waiter and prepared to enter university. In 1995, the protagonist of our post found out that he had HIV.

In the 1990s, the “HIV positive” diagnosis sounded like a death sentence. The first antiretroviral drugs malfunctioned and produced many side effects, while life expectancy was one to two years. Tim was convinced he didn’t have long to live. Not in vain, at that time he was lucky for the first time (if this can be called luck, of course): scientists created a high-quality drug HAART, which could extend the lives of infected people.

Unlike other people with HIV, Timothy had no side effects from these medications, so he could lead a normal life. Brown entered the University of Berlin, went to the academy and continued his work. But, 10 years later, life put him in front of a second test.

In 2006, Timothy suddenly started to feel unwell: he couldn’t cycle even two kilometers and suffered from a very high fever. Soon, doctors in Berlin diagnosed him with acute myeloid leukemia: an aggressive cancer of the blood. He had to deal with a second illness, one that could end his life in a matter of months.

A young onco-hematologist, Gero Hütter, had never treated an HIV-infected patient with cancer. However, he enthusiastically began to help Timothy: he found information about a rare genetic mutation that made blood cells immune to HIV infection. Mutation of the CCR5 gene closes the door through which the virus infiltrates cells.

Gero Hutter offered the patient a risky step: transplanting the bone marrow of a person with a mutation of the CCR5 gene. This operation could cure leukemia and probably HIV. But it was dangerous: Brown’s weak body might not survive the transplant. Timothy did not accept the doctor’s proposal:

The Doctor. Hutter then prescribed chemotherapy, which did not go as planned. After the first cycle, the patient began to suffer from pneumonia, and after the second he fell into a coma. The treatment had to be stopped.

Meanwhile, the doctor started looking for a donor: the transplant was Tim’s only chance to stay alive. That’s where the crazy plan related to the CCR5 mutation proved effective. Timothy was lucky again: the highest concentration of people with a mutation of this gene is observed precisely in northern Europe. Of the 267 suitable donors, only one of them found the necessary mutation and took the material for the transplant.

February 6, 2007 was Timothy Brown’s second birthday: doctors in Berlin transplanted the mutant stem cells. After the intervention, he stopped taking antiviral drugs, and after 3 months, HIV disappeared from his body. Brown went back to work, started playing sports again, and found that he felt good. It looked like luck had finally smiled on Tim. However, the leukemia returned after less than a year.

What happened next can only be described as a desperate step. doctor Hutter and Timothy decided on a retransplant. The chances of survival were 5%, but they decided to take a chance.

The second operation nearly killed Brown. Timothy was paralyzed, almost blind, but the leukemia condition reversed. To get back on his feet, he needed 6 years of rehabilitation. Doctors did hundreds of blood tests, bone punctures and intestinal punctures on Tim, but found no trace of HIV.

At first, scientists and doctors around the world were cautious about the recovery of the “Berlin patient”. Serious scientific journals refused to publish Dr. Hutter on transplantation and curing HIV, and the doctor was not invited to major conferences on the subject.

Journalists came to the rescue: after an article in The Wall Street Journal, the world met the first person to beat HIV. Timothy, in an instant, became an icon: doctors around the world wanted to get a blood sample from him and journalists needed him to give interviews. However, Brown for a long time did not dare to speak in public: it was very difficult for him, both treatment and rehabilitation.

Only in 2010 did the “Berlin patient” reveal his name: Timothy Ray Brown. He started giving spontaneous interviews and agreed to participate in research to find a cure for HIV/AIDS. Timothy created a fund to fight the virus, which raised money to find a vaccine, and he also starred in a movie. Brown claims he will not stop until a cure is found. After all, if he could, others can too.

The way Brown was cured is not a cure-all for HIV. To repeat the success of Dr. Hutter, the patient’s immune system must be destroyed with the help of chemotherapy and then undergo a stem cell transplant for a total of $250,000.

HIV has another variation that easily evades the protective mechanisms of the CCR5 mutation. He doesn’t need that door in the cell, he enters through the window. In fact, Timothy and other potential CCR5 stem cell recipients can be reinfected with HIV.

Hope remains, even though there is still a long way to go before the invention of an affordable and harmless medicine. The story of Timothy’s treatment gave scientists new material for their research. Possibly, in the fight against HIV, gene therapy or the creation of some kind of “superantibody” helps.

We have to admit, Timothy’s story made our hair stand on end: it’s terrible, but hopeful. What do you think? Is the recovery of the “Berlin patient” a matter of luck or the merit of medicine?