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Eight-year-old with leukemia can return to school after therapy enabled by Samsung family donation

Published: 05 Nov. 2025, 18:12

Kim Yoo-na, 8, left, visits Seoul National University Hospital with her father for a routine checkup and speaks with Prof. Kang Hyoung-jin of the Department of Pediatrics on Oct. 13. [SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL]

“I want to be a figure skater like Kim Yuna,” said 8-year-old Kim Yoo-na while talking about her dreams at Seoul National University Hospital in early October. She has never been on the ice, but after years of battling leukemia, even the thought of skating feels like victory.

Yoo-na began showing unusual symptoms three years ago, in the summer of 2022. Bruises appeared all over her body, even though she hadn’t fallen or bumped into anything.

Concerned, her mother, Kim Ji-hye, took her to the hospital. Doctors there urged her to go to a larger facility, and the family went straight to Seoul National University Hospital.

Tests revealed that Yoo-na had acute lymphoblastic leukemia — specifically, the Philadelphia chromosome-positive subtype, a notoriously difficult form to treat.

Yoo-na underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy over two years. The family, who live in Jeonju, North Jeolla, commuted weekly to Seoul by KTX express train. Yoo-na completed first grade through online classes, spending most of her time shuttling between home and the hospital.

Treatment was grueling. Although she was prescribed targeted anticancer drugs, severe side effects forced doctors to stop the medication.

A bone marrow transplant became the only remaining option.

Professor Kang Hyoung-jin of the Department of Pediatrics at Seoul National University Hospital said that "even with a transplant, Yoona’s chance of relapse was high." The hospital’s full-genome sequencing had allowed doctors to anticipate that outcome. Once the cancer returned, her survival rate would fall below 30 percent, with no further treatment options available.

Prof. Kang concluded that CAR-T cell therapy — short for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy — would be the best approach. The therapy involves modifying a patient’s immune cells so they can better recognize and attack cancer cells. It is a one-time infusion, and because the engineered cells target only cancer cells, damage to healthy tissue is minimized.

Seoul National University Hospital, located in Jongno District, central Seoul, is seen in this undated file photo. [SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL]

In Korea, only three CAR-T therapies are approved, and Novartis’s Kymriah is the only one available for pediatric leukemia. The treatment costs about 360 million won ($250,100) per dose, but for relapsed or treatment-resistant patients, it is covered by national health insurance, reducing the price to 5.98 million won.

Yoo-na, however, was not eligible for coverage.

Instead, in December 2024, she received a domestically developed CAR-T therapy produced by Seoul National University Hospital. Professor Kang and his research team had been working on it for nearly two decades. The treatment was approved in 2021 as Korea’s first high-risk advanced regenerative medicine clinical trial and later received government funding.

What could have been a small-scale clinical study gained momentum thanks to the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s family, which donated 300 billion won to Seoul National University Hospital in May 2021 to support research into childhood cancer and rare diseases. So far, 16 patients, including Yoo-na, have received the hospital’s homegrown CAR-T therapy.

“The project began with government research funding and continued thanks to the Lee family’s donation,” Kang said. “Without that contribution, we could have treated only about five patients.”

One year after her CAR-T treatment, Yoo-na’s minimal residual disease tests show no sign of cancer. Her condition has improved enough for her to return to school in March this year. Her treatment costs, including the CAR-T therapy and genetic testing, were fully covered by the Lee family’s donation.

“We wanted to avoid a bone marrow transplant because of the severe side effects for young children," said Kim, Yoona's mother. "I’m so thankful this treatment made that possible.”

“Childhood cancer research rarely receives enough funding because the number of patients is small," Prof. Kang added. "Donations like this truly make a difference.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY RHEE ESTHER [[email protected]]