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Young cancer survivor throws out first pitch of Phillies World Series game
Luke Theodosiades, 19, was invited by the Phillies to throw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of game 3. Luke was diagnosed with A.L.L., or, Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, when he was entering 7th grade. He a trial study of CAR t-cell therapy to overcome the cancer.
PHILADELPHIA - A young Phillies fan who overcame cancer was invited by the team to throw out ceremonial first pitch before game 4 of the World Series.
Luke Theodosiades, 19, was diagnosed with A.L.L., or, Acute lymphoblastic leukemia as a 7th grader. Ironically, his family says baseball helped raise a red flag about Luke's health.
"Luke had made one of the local tournament teams, and they were starting practice, I said, "Hm, he doesn’t look like himself. He looked out of breath, "winded", and that’s not who he was," Luke's father John said.
Luke's white blood cell count was sky-high, signaling a shocking and scary cancer diagnosis that was far beyond what Luke and his family were expecting.
"I wasn’t responding well to some forms of chemotherapy, so I did the CAR t-cell therapy," Luke said. "All these years later I found out it was funded by Stand up to Cancer."
The trial study worked to squash Luke's cancer to non-detectable levels. He underwent a bone marrow transplant in 2016 with help from his younger brother Niko and has been cancer-free ever since.
Luke was asked to throw out the first pitch ahead of World Series Game 4, as the MLB and all of its supporters "Stand up to Cancer."
"I’m really excited about it, I can't wait," Luke said. He and his family will sit in a suite at Citizens Bank Park with Dr. Jill Biden who will escort Luke to out for his first pitch.
"After all these years, to finally come out of it and get some good out of it," Luke said.