Pulmonary vein stenosis: A clinical trial in Jack ’s juice glass

At just 6 months old, Jack Marquis was suddenly given four weeks to live. After he was born with complex congenital heart defects, Jack’s doctors in California had performed two open-heart surgeries that they thought would save Jack’s life. But just when they thought he was out of the woods, Jack’s condition suddenly began to deteriorate rapidly. “On top of everything else, we learned he had a rare condition called pulmonary vein stenosis,” says Jack’s father, Andrew. Racing to treat pulmonary vein stenosis Pulmonary vein stenosis causes narrowing of the veins that carry oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the heart. The narrowing is a result of abnormal cell growth that builds up and seals off the veins. While everyone else was telling Andrew and his wife, Amy, to cherish what little remaining time they and their two older boys had left with Jack, one cardiologist recalled that all the way across the country, a Boston Children’s Hospital team was kicking off a brand-new clinical trial, using chemotherapy to combat pulmonary vein stenosis by blocking abnormal cell growth. Soon, Boston Children’s was on the phone, arranging for a medical flight to transfer Jack to Boston. “Do we fly back and forth to Boston, or do we move to Massachusetts?” Andrew says he and Amy asked each other. “All roads pointed to moving; we quit our jobs in California that same night and sold everything.” Jack and Andrew After arriving at Boston Children’s, Jack began the trial ...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Our Patients’ Stories Research and Innovation chemotherapy clinical trial Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center Dr. Kathy Jenkins Dr. Mark Kieran Heart Center pulmonary vein stenosis Source Type: news