Milton Wright III seemed to finally have his life on track.

After what seemed like endless interruptions to his education, his football career, and his plans to join the Marines, the 20-year-old found his way. He launched a modeling career and appeared in ads for brands including Zumiez and Adidas. He all but forgot he'd ever had cancer.

"I finally felt like things were going in the direction I wanted them to," Wright says.

But 5 years and 2 months into his second remission from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Wright slipped on a sidewalk and heard his ribs crack. He walked the few blocks to Seattle Children's Hospital. He had lived nearby since shortly after he was diagnosed with leukemia at age 8. He'd spent several years there in treatment for two bouts of leukemia -- the second when he was 15.

After looking at his ribs and drawing blood, the emergency nurse told Wright to follow up with blood cancer doctors. "That's when I added everything up," he recalls. "The broken ribs, the blood samples. They think I have it again."

Wright knew kids who'd gotten leukemia a third time. "None of them survived. That's when they give you your 6 months. I realized that I was going to die soon."

Wright's doctor, Rebecca A. Gardner, MD, an assistant professor in pediatrics at the University of Washington, did confirm his leukemia was back, but she didn't give him 6 months. As the lead researcher in a new clinical trial, she suggested Wright be the second person to take part. The first person had no remaining signs of leukemia just 9 days after treatment began.

The trial tests a type of immunotherapy, a new wave of treatments that spur the immune system to fight off cancer like it does other illnesses.

Some doctors and scientists call it the pathway to a cure. Among them is Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, chief of hematology/oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. "We are supercharging the immune system," she says. "This brings a totally new dimension to attacking a cancer cell."