Marci McCue knew something was wrong long before she had a name for it.
What started as subtle changes soon became impossible to ignore — her body weakening, simple movements becoming harder, control slipping away in ways she couldn’t explain.
Each day brought new uncertainty, and with it, a quiet fear: something serious was happening. When the diagnosis finally came — multiple sclerosis (MS) — it confirmed what Marci already felt. Her life had changed, and the future she once imagined was suddenly in question.
“MS is a condition where one’s own immune system attacks one’s own central nervous system at times that are unpredictable and in ways that can’t be defined,” explains Dr. Jeffrey Dunn, Principal Investigator & Professor of Clinical Neuroimmunology at Stanford University.
That uncertainty could have been Marci’s story. Instead, she chose to fight for answers.
In 2024, she became the first patient ever to receive CAR-T cell therapy for MS — a form of personalized medicine that uses a patient’s own immune cells to fight disease.
“CAR-T is taking your immune cells — your white blood cells — re-engineering them in the lab and then reinfusing them back to you so they can fight your disease,” says Dr. Naji Gehchan, Chief Medical and Development Officer at Kyverna Therapeutics. “It’s like doing a ‘Control, Alt, Delete’ to your immune system, and resetting it.”
Marci’s decision was rooted in courage — the willingness to try something entirely new, not just for herself, but for the millions of people living with MS and in need of hope.
What followed has been nothing short of remarkable.
After receiving an investigational CAR-T therapy in a clinical trial at Stanford in 2024, Marci’s MS has responded in ways once considered impossible. Today, she has zero traces of a marker known as “oligoclonal bands,” commonly used to detect MS activity and progression — something that has never happened to an MS patient. For a disease defined by progression, it represents something profoundly different: the possibility of stopping it in its tracks.
But the most powerful change isn’t just what doctors can measure — it’s what Marci feels. “I spent years focusing on not getting worse,” she says. “Now, I get to focus on getting better. I don’t have to worry that I’m going to wake up tomorrow and lose function.” For the first time in years, the constant weight of uncertainty has lifted.
Right now, researchers are developing CAR-T therapies to address many other autoimmune diseases that affect millions of Americans each year. Marci’s clinical trial is one of several that could eventually lead to an FDA-approved CAR-T treatment.
Meanwhile, Marci is reclaiming what MS once threatened to take — regaining her strength through physical rehabilitation and allowing herself to imagine a future with her family that feels full again.
Her story is more than a breakthrough. It’s a testament to what’s possible when patients, researchers, and innovators refuse to accept the status quo. And it’s a powerful reminder that with continued investment in science, biotechnology can one day offer treatments and even cures that once felt impossible.