Stem cells and Diabetes article - 11 year old leads charge against Bush

[DanCa]

Transplant survivor, 11, pushes for diabetes cure
By Carey Hamilton
The Salt Lake Tribune



It was supposed to be a vacation. But the Caribbean cruise turned
into a nightmare last January for the Slusser family of Park City. Laura Slusser, already suffering from juvenile diabetes, fell
severely ill and had to be flown to the Miami Children's Hospital,
where she learned her kidneys were failing.

"I saw her in the bed in the Bahamas, and she looked like she was
going to die," recalls her older sister, Mary. "I felt like I was
losing her." Today, you would never guess that Laura was so close to death's door. The slender, wide-eyed 11-year-old is back in school, she's playing the piano and, for the first time in years, is eating
whatever she wants. Her difficult journey started three years ago when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. It ended last month when she received life-saving organs from a teenager who died in an
automobile accident. Doctors believe Laura is the youngest person in
the United States to have a kidney/pancreas transplant. Now the preteen is on a mission to encourage lawmakers to expand embryonic stem cell research, which she believes could someday lead
to a cure for diabetes. In October, she and her family will visit Washington as a prize for winning an art calendar contest for children with kidney disease. The weekend includes a dinner in the winners' honor and a tour of the White House. Laura has her own agenda: She wants to meet with President Bush.

"I want to ask him to change his mind" about embryonic stem cell
research, she said.She and her parents are thinking of contacting Sen. Orrin Hatch and former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, now the secretary of Health and Human Services, for help in clinching the deal. If she has to, Laura says she will use her wish from the Make a Wish Foundation to try and arrange a meeting. "Laura wants to do something to help other people," said her dad, Mark. Since contracting diabetes, she has become a spokeswoman on
behalf of diabetes research. Unlike millions of other people, however, Laura fortunately is no longer plagued by the disease because she has a new pancreas. After coming back from Miami, Laura endured six months of kidney dialysis. She had even more stringent eating and drinking restrictions than her diabetes diet called for.
Because of the risk of infection in a catheter surgically
implanted to hook up to the dialysis machine, she couldn't swim or
even shower. She was always fatigued, said her dad, who described
her as "being like a wet washcloth" after her three weekly
treatments, which lasted three to four hours each. Her mother, Sherrie, and Mark aggressively searched the Internet for an answer to their sickly child's health problems.They say they hit the jackpot when they came across a doctor named Hans Sollinger in Wisconsin.
In May, they traveled to Wisconsin for a consultation. Other
doctors had said she could lead a fairly normal life on dialysis,
and a cure for diabetes was about 10 years off. They were aware that double-organ surgery carried more risks. But they knew the toll that dialysis had on their daughter. And, with a new pancreas, she would be rid of the immense inconvenience of insulin shots and blood testing forever. Her doctor agreed.

"Her case was very unusual," Sollinger said. "Patients such as
her have about a 30 to 40 percent chance of developing kidney
failure later in life. It usually takes 20 or 30 years. Most of my
patients get a kidney/pancreas transplant between 30 and 50 years
old. After seeing Laura and examining her, I thought she would be a
good candidate. It's not fun growing up with diabetes." In late July, Laura's parents got the call they'd been waiting for: Organs were available. Laura and her father flew out the next day and she was quickly taken into surgery. Mary and her mother came the day after her nearly three-hour surgery.
"I think the fact that someone died and that's how she got her
organs is something she feels bad about," Sherrie said. "We're
certainly grateful. At 11, it's not something she should dwell on."
After two weeks, Laura was back at home. The road to recovery was
bumpy, though. Laura was admitted to Primary Children's Medical
Center twice after having reactions to her anti-rejection drugs. She
finally felt better last week and was eager to start sixth grade at
Ecker Hill Middle School. "It was great seeing my friends," she said. "They were excited I was back." Laura has progressed so much she even ran for the first time in years. "She was so happy about being able to run again," said Mary, who hugs Laura repeatedly.
Mark and Sherrie say the ordeal has brought the family together
closer than they were before. They share common interests in art and
play music together in their living room, which is peppered with a
piano, an organ, a violin, bongo drums and a bass guitar.
Laura can now eat whatever she wants - except grapefruit because
it interacts with her medications - and has been relishing chocolate
bars. The only setback is having to take about 27 pills a day to
ensure her body doesn't reject the new organs."She's been a trooper throughout everything," Sherrie said. "She's free from all of that now. The pills are a drag, but we can handle them."

[Mairead]

1. It's truly wonderful that she was able to get treatment

I wonder whether a child from a poor family would have fared so well.

[DanCa]

2. I think that begs another hurdle but riight now were trying to stop

this procedure from being outlawed, and it's participants for being locked up. There was a law in texas where a person could be fined an xxx many dollars for mentioning the word. The is a bill now being drafted that says if i were to leave the country to get treatment to cure my pd i wouldn't be able to reenter america without getting arrested.

[Mairead]

3. Surely you can't be serious?

Do you have pointers to this stuff? It sounds like something that would appear in a delirium nightmare.

[DanCa]

4. I emailled my friend james he knows more about it than me.

He'll email me links so that I can post them.