Cord Blood Helps Treat SCID

One year old Valentina DeLeon has recently undergone a cord blood transplant to treat her case of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Months later, the one-year-old is showing positive signs of improvement from the disease, which was previously considered to be fatal.

Valentina's parents suspected their daughter might be ill just before she turned one. At 10-months-old, Valentina weighed only 13 pounds. They recall that she would not eat and that she was sick on a regular basis. Her parents took her to San Antonio's  Methodist Children’s Hospital, where doctors confirmed their worst fears.

Severe combined immunodeficiency is a genetic disorder which is characterized by the immune system's inability to fight disease. In patients with SCID, their immune systems are so weak, it is like they do not even have one. Children diagnosed with the disease are not expected to live longer than one year; however, a cord blood transplant could change the prognosis.

In Valentina's case, it has. Valentina's doctors found a match for the child in the donor registry and she prompty underwent a cord blood transplant. Today, her doctors are optimistic; Valentina is just over a year old now and she weighs 21 pounds, a positive sign for a child with her diagnosis. Her parents are overjoyed at the results, calling Valentina their 'miracle baby'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_combined_immunodeficiency
 

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