If you’re considering CAR T therapy for your child, this post is one part of a series meant to help soften a heavy decision by offering context and perspective along the way.
What Of Medicine and Miracles Is About
Of Medicine and Miracles traces the development of CAR T-cell therapy as a cancer treatment, following the work of Dr. Carl June, Dr. Bruce Levine and the research teams who committed decades of their lives to the science behind it. The film is anchored by Emily Whitehead’s story— a through line that makes the science something deeply personal.
For a pediatric CAR T-cell family, Emily’s story is a particular tear jerker. She walked so we could run.
But this is not a glossy medical success story. It’s a careful look at persistence, failure, ethical tension, and what it means to keep going when the outcome is uncertain. The documentary captures the long arc of research—the years when nothing worked, when funding was fragile, when belief had to exist before proof.
For families who have lived inside trial medicine that long road feels familiar.
Belief before proof, I suppose that’s our battle cry.
In 2022, while attending the Believe Ball hosted by the Emily Whitehead Foundation, we were invited to a special screening of the film. It’s a strange and rare thing to sit in an auditorium with your cancer-survivor child and whisper to them- watch closely—this is the medicine that saved your life.
Where to Watch Of Medicine and Miracles
Of Medicine and Miracles is available to stream online, rent here.
A portion of each rental supports the work of the Emily Whitehead Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Emily and her family to support patients and advance access to innovative therapies.
How to Fund Persistence, and Miracles
Progress in medicine is rarely fast, rarely clean, and almost always built on years of unseen labor. The treatments we now speak about casually were once fragile ideas held by a few stubborn people.
The Emily Whitehead Foundation work to continue not only support families navigating childhood cancer, but now has an expanded mission to advocate for all patients who can be treated with advanced therapies.
This film is about science—but it’s also about trust, patience, and the long view.
If you want to read more about Emily’s story, I recommend Praying for Emily, written by her parents, which explores the intersection of faith, science, and the long road to CAR T therapy.
If you’re learning about CAR T therapy, explore the Heavy Wait CAR T landing page.
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