From Bermuda to Boston for surgery to protect the brain of a boy with sickle cell disease

Calvin Steede, who lives in Bermuda, will never forget the day in 2011 when he saw the movie “Winnie the Pooh” with his mother and sister. The film ended, and suddenly the boy who likes to draw and play soccer couldn’t put on his backpack. His arms had stopped working. He couldn’t stand, and soon he couldn’t talk. Calvin, now 11, had suffered a minor stroke, a complication of sickle cell disease and the first step of a journey that would take him to Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center for minimally invasive surgery to protect his brain from future strokes. Sickle cell disease Sickle cell disease is an inherited genetic disorder in which red blood cells become sickle-shaped. Unlike healthy, round red blood cells, the sickled cells get stuck traveling through blood vessels, which causes blockages that can lead to pain and organ damage—and stroke, when blood flow to the brain is blocked. Calvin also developed moyamoya, another potential complication of sickle cell disease in which the body forms fragile, wispy vessels in the brain to bypass a larger, blocked artery. The term moyamoya is Japanese for “puff of smoke,” which is what images of the new, tiny blood vessels resemble. Left untreated, patients with moyamoya, whether from sickle cell disease or other conditions, are at high risk of recurrent stroke or death. The moyamoya disease affects the entire length of the primary blood vessel, often very deep in the brain, so operating d...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Diseases & conditions Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center moyamoya sickle cell disease Source Type: news