Barry Simon, the Missoula 11-year-old who since August has been in Seattle where he underwent a bone marrow transplant, was hospitalized again Thursday with pneumonia.
It happened just a day after his mother made a plea to folks back home to write to the boy.
But overnight, the boy's ankles and knees quadrupled in size, according to Wamsley. Simon was taken from the Pete Gross Apartments where he and his mother have been living while he continued his medical treatments and checkups, and placed in isolation at Children's Hospital.
In addition to severe swelling in his joints, Simon broke out in blisters all over his body, and doctors discovered a rapid heart rate.
A test Friday to measure the amount of lactate dehydrogenase, or LDH, in his body returned a count of 7,000, according to his grandmother, Anita Smith of Modesto, Calif.
The normal number is 400.
LDH is measured to evaluate the presence of tissue damage. The enzyme is found in many body tissues, especially the heart, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle, brain, blood cells and lungs.
Late Friday afternoon, doctors told Wamsley that fluid was building up in her son's lungs. An MRI revealed nothing, and doctors ruled out kidney, liver or heart failure.
The best news was that there was no evidence the boy had developed lymphoma, a type of cancer.
Simon suffers from a rare genetic disease called Fanconi anemia, which leads to bone marrow failure.
The disease can be passed on only when both parents carry the same defect in an FA gene. The odds of any one person having the defect are one in a million; the odds of both parents having it are astronomical.
While the bone marrow transplant procedure has greatly improved the chances of recovering from Fanconi anemia, survivors also have a high risk of developing other cancers, especially from the shoulders up.
Simon was attending Paxson Elementary School in Missoula. In an interview earlier in the week, his mother said the highlight of his day is when the mail arrives.
Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 523-5260 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com
Drop a line
You can send a card or letter to Barry at this address: Barry Simon, c/o Pete Gross Apartments, 525 Minor Ave. N., No. 413, Seattle, WA 98109. While his access to a computer is limited, especially now that he's back in the hospital, you can also e-mail him at mslabarry.hotmail.com.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)