Jo has told me several times over the past couple of days about Dr. Childs. Tonight, he stopped in to say goodbye before he went home. Dr. Childs is one of the primary members of the Aplastic Anemia team, but more importantly, he oversees all of the bone marrow transplants done for Aplastic Anemia patients at the NIH.
Jo also has a separate blood disease that has to do with PNH Clones in her blood. Dr. Childs is going to bring me some articles on PNH Clones so that we can better understand exactly what that means. He said 10% of Aplastic Anemia patients also have the PNH clones and they actually tend to respond to ATG better than people without PNH. However, after responding, the PNH problem could get better, stay the same or get worse (interesting - these are the same three possibilities Dr. Alvarez has mentioned a million times - the next time you see Jo ask her to do her Dr. Alvarez impersonation). If it doesn't get better, it could cause problems that would still require a bone marrow transplant even if the Aplastic Anemia is handled.
According to Dr. Childs and Dr. Young, 2 people per million get Aplastic Anemia in the United States every year, compared to about 6 people per million in Asia. PNH Clones affect about 1 person per million every year. I always knew Jo was "1 in a million".
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