Sunday, August 28, 2016

"DNA sequencing saves young Racine girl"

From JSOnline:

, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 9:56 p.m. CDT August 27, 2016

"Alan Mayer stared at a wall in the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, worrying as his patient, 15-month-old Addyson Valley, grew dangerously ill.

"The pediatric gastroenterologist had placed her on the highest doses of calcium and phosphate a patient can receive, yet her levels remained desperately low. The heart depends on calcium to beat properly, and the infant’s deficiency threatened to send her into cardiac arrest.

"Also, Addyson’s gut was leaking protein, impairing the function of her intestines and raising fears that a buildup of fluid outside the vessels could turn her body into a boggy swamp. She could, in essence, drown in her own body fluid.

"She was bloated. She was lethargic. She was dying."

"Addyson had been sick all of her short life, projectile vomiting most food, lagging severely on the growth charts, going through one infant formula after another, and one medical test after another. No one knew what was making the Racine girl sick. And since arriving in intensive care, she had grown steadily worse.

"'We’re doing something to make her sicker,' the doctor told himself, noting that all they’d done was to feed her formula.

"'Let’s stop feeding her,' Mayer told the medical staff. As he said it, he realized he’d been in this situation before.

"'It’s the Nic story again.'"

Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/health/2016/08/27/dna-sequencing-saves-young-racine-girl/89412240/

No comments: