‘Sweet, funny, and seriously tough’: The six-year-old girl beating acute leukemia against the odds

Six-year-old Aleena’s leukemia relapsed early in 2025, putting her life at risk. To mark Blood Cancer Awareness Month, JHAH clinicians tell the story of her battle against life-threatening complications. Her name has been changed to protect her identity and images accompanying this article are posed by an actor.

In late 2021, three-year-old Aleena was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a rare form of cancer that affects bone marrow and blood. ALL occurs when a malfunctioning bone marrow cell grows and divides out of control, which floods the body with immature white blood cells that impede healthy cells.

“It’s a variant of leukemia that is typically very curable,” Dr. Basel Abushullaih , hematology and pediatric oncology consultant at Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (JHAH), says. “It’s the variant we see in about 90% of childhood patients who are diagnosed with leukemia. The cure rate is also about 90%.

“Immediately after her diagnosis, we gave her the standard course of treatment for acute leukemia. She was treated for two years and then went into remission and did very well.”

After being discharged from hospital, Aleena visited doctors at JHAH for check-ups visits every three months. Unfortunately, in February 2025, between check-ups, she began suffering pain.

Six-year-old Aleena’s leukemia relapsed early in 2025, putting her life at risk. To mark Blood Cancer Awareness Month, JHAH clinicians tell the story of her battle against life-threatening complications. Her name has been changed to protect her identity and images accompanying this article are posed by an actor.