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NRL News
Father’s
Stem Cells Give Life to Son In yet another triumph for the use of adult stem cells, little Andrew Meuting of Dodge City, Kansas, has been cured of a life-threatening disease after he received cells from his father’s blood. A special machine removed potentially harmful T-cells from Nick Meuting’s blood, which was then transplanted into his son. Andrew’s body is now free of the disease, called malignant infantile osteopetrosis, and he is expected to live a normal, healthy life. Now three years old, “Andrew’s doing great,” his mother Paula told NRL News. “He’s brilliant. He wants to know everything, be involved with everything.” Born after an uneventful pregnancy September 7, 2004, Andrew’s parents didn’t suspect anything was wrong until a few months went by. They noticed that the soft spot on his head was raised, and he was not eating very well. Eventually, they took him to the emergency room, where a doctor diagnosed hydrocephalus and prescribed the placement of a shunt to drain excess water from Andrew’s brain. But before the surgery was to begin, a chest x-ray showed that all of his ribs were broken. Doctors realized that rather than fluid on the brain, Andrew had a rare condition called malignant infantile osteopetrosis. His ribs had probably been broken during his birth. The genetic condition affects the normal process of bone development, when cells called osteoblasts make bones and osteoclasts break down bone tissue. This process occurs throughout life. In Andrew’s body, however, the osteoclasts were not working, causing bone tissue to build up unchecked. “It causes bones to be like chalk,” Paula Meuting said. “They are dense but will easily break and shatter.” The condition is usually fatal within a few years, because the bones grow so dense they will strangle bone marrow to cause anemia, the optic nerve to cause blindness, and other vital systems. While their doctors were researching potential treatments, the Meutings went to the Internet to educate themselves. They e-mailed specialists in the field and eventually went to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The stem cell transplant took place February 2, 2005. First, Andrew underwent chemotherapy “to knock out his immune system so it didn’t reject the new cells,” Mrs. Meuting said. Nick was given medication to increase his production of stem cells. The donation was obtained in much the same way that a person would give blood. Nick’s blood was then filtered to remove the T-cells, which could cause Andrew’s body to reject the transplant. The actual transplant “was anticlimactic,” said Paula Meuting. “It took just 20 minutes, and was a push of blood into the IV.” Although the transplant was soon shown to be successful, Andrew faced another 77 days of challenges, probably the result of the trauma to his system by the chemotherapy, Mrs. Meuting said. He suffered respiratory failure and had to be intubated, and was sedated in a medically induced coma for 50 days. Eventually, Andrew gained strength and was able to breathe on his own. Subsequent tests have shown that Andrew’s blood is now made up completely of Nick’s cells, which will prevent the osteopetrosis from reoccurring. Paula Meuting had nothing but praise for everyone who helped them through the ordeal. Due to flexible work schedules and supportive employers, they were able to stay at St. Jude’s with Andrew for the entire time he was there. And St. Jude’s charges families nothing. “If there was something the insurance company wouldn’t pay, St. Jude never billed us,” she said. “We were lucky in every way, shape, and form.” "Our families have helped us so much to make sure that Andrew didn't miss a beat," Mueting told the Catholic News Service. "He's really a bright kid; it's truly amazing. He remembers just about everything. Ask him to sing a song and he'll sing it for you. He knows the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors. He's known that for a year. Intelligencewise, it hasn't slowed him down a bit." |