01x13 - Raw Terror

[bunniefuu]

in the spring of 1991 a group of Boy

Scouts spent the weekend in the woods

hoping to earn merit badges for survival

in the wilderness

but just ten days later one of the

scouts Damien here sink was fighting for

his own survival as he lay near death in

a hospital doctors wanted to find the

cause and they also needed to find a

cure

Oh

the here sink family have a quiet active

life in the small town of Dothan Alabama

monix here sink is a busy eye surgeon

and he met his wife Mary while he was in

medical school the here sink family soon

grew to include four children three boys

Damian

Sebastian Bain and the daughter named

nyla all intelligent active and healthy

about a week after Damien here sink

returned from the Boy Scout trip his

mother prepared to take Damian and his

brother to Florida Damian was headed to

Space Camp

and Sebastian was going to tennis camp

Sebastian and his mother packed the van

because Damian wasn't feeling well he

had a slight fever and some diarrhea his

parents thought it might have been the

pizza Damian ate at a friend's house or

perhaps it was just a virus going

through Damian school and like you

respond to all of those kinds of bugs

and little illnesses as a parent you

think okay I'm going to fix it Mary

packed anti diarrheal medicine and some

drinks to replenish the fluids and they

headed to Florida intending to drive

straight through the night Damian

symptoms didn't respond to the medicine

and they were forced to make frequent

stops on the trip it became apparent

that he was dealing with something more

complicated than a flu Mary decided it

was best to stop for the night and let

Damian rest then we went through a night

where he just lived in the bathroom back

and forth the hotel room all night using

the bathroom and the next morning I woke

up thinking okay it was one of those

weird things were okay let's go on our

way get to Space Camp get to tennis camp

the next day Damian was no better in

fact as his mother drove towards Tampa

she noticed that Damian was getting

worse she was really getting pretty

worried that Damian was that really

pretty sick that he had pretty frankly a

lot of diarrhea or some blood in it

that's very

abnormal and that's when I realized that

something was more serious than just a

very bad case of the flu that we had to

get him into some kind of care

they drove to a local hospital where

x-ray showed his intestines were swollen

the news was not good additional tests

showed that there were deadly toxins

collecting in Damien's blood evidence

that his kidneys were shutting down it

needs to be very carefully watched

because it could be the start of

something disastrous doctors didn't know

what was causing Damien's illness but if

the problem wasn't identified quickly

Damien would die as Damian's condition

worsened he was quickly transferred to a

pediatric intensive care unit at another

hospital when the diarrhea turned to

hemorrhaging it was like literally all

hell was breaking loose now it just

poured out and it wasn't so much

diarrhea as it was just hemorrhage just

pan after pan of clotted blood pouring

out of him Damien's red blood cells were

being destroyed and his kidneys were

shutting down tests showed that he was

suffering from a rare life-threatening

condition called hemolytic uremic

syndrome or H us although his father was

a doctor it was a disease he had never

heard of I didn't know what this disease

was so I fortunately had some books with

me it said her and I looked it up and I

really realized that this was say this

is a bad disease tarry shoes was the

first nurse who cared for Damien we all

knew in our hearts what might happen and

when we were sure it was hemolytic

uremic syndrome that's when the fear set

in and we knew we had to become very

aggressive H us is caused by a lethal

bacteria

which creates a toxin a chemical poison

that att*cks the blood vessels and the

blood it triggers a deadly cascade of

events first red blood cells are

shredded the blood loses its clotting

ability but at the same time the broken

cells clump together creating a

life-threatening dam in the blood stream

and when the clumps reach vital organs

it deprives them of blood and oxygen

Damien's parents read all they could

about this mysterious blood disease

desperate to find out what caused it

Mary pored over the medical literature

she learned that hu s is usually linked

to contaminated food but no one else in

the family had gotten sick could it be

the pizza Damien had at a friend's house

what about the Boy Scout trip was the

bacteria in the water or was it

something in the food I needed to get on

the phone call home nobody in our town

was aware of what kind of trouble Damien

was in at that point

call the Scoutmaster and and ask him was

anybody else sick because that became my

concern is that there are other kids who

may have been poisoned

Mary was surprised and confused by the

answer none of the other Boy Scouts were

sick how on earth can this child fall

into his deep hole with no explanation

the source of Damien's illness remained

a mystery but its severity was becoming

all too clear dr. Daniel placencia led a

team of doctors who would try to keep

Damien

a lie it was affecting different organs

and that process kind of put him in the

severe category onto the stomach doctors

told Mary about H us and its

unpredictability that it launches random

att*cks on their bodies critical organs

creating deadly complications without

warning and there was little doctors

could do to stop it

and you realize he can die it's

impossible fought for someone like me

for most parents and at that point the

doctors told me that there was really

nothing that you could do that we just

had to march across our fingers wait and

hope that this beast didn't take a

lethal hit on one of Damian's major

organ systems Damian's condition

worsened by the minute

blood tests showed that his system was

overflowing with toxins Damian needed

dialysis to cleanse his blood just to

stay alive then in the middle of the

night I got a phone call from Mary

saying that it's routed to a point where

you need to come by the time marnix flew

in from Alabama the deadly toxins

coursing through his bloodstream or

affecting Damian's neurological system

the danger was real and frightening had

a tough time when I had to go in and

talk to Damon the first night the first

day that I was there the reason it was

so tough as he was really losing it you

know

it just would he just wasn't coherent as

she normally is and it can't real clear

to me that he was having your micro

embolic any strokes sort of like strokes

and it's it's there was probably the

hardest time for me because his body was

there but his mind was not dialysis kept

Damien alive but the disease was raging

like a fire through his body as a doctor

marnix understood the test results and

he knew his son was dying he was in a

very bad downward spiral every turn

seemed to be in the down side I was

really seeing the actual disease take

it's ravaging effects on him right

before our eyes and x-ray showed that

fluid was collecting around Damien's

heart more than a liter of fluid was

siphoned away allowing his heart to beat

more freely but a few hours later his

parents were in his room when tragedy

struck without warning Damien's blood

pressure went into a freefall the hear

sinks were watching their son die before

their very eyes

Damien started to shake and convulse

turn blue and he was dying

and it is so terrifying that you just

are reduced to begging God to let your

child live for one more minute

there was a frantic effort to restore

Damien's blood pressure before it

damaged his heart or brain we give him

extra fluid intravenously we must have

given him half a liter to a liter of

fluid to restore his fluid volume

gradually his blood pressure increased

and Damien survived a brush with death

but the disease had only begun to reveal

its power the here sings agonized what

caused this terrible tragedy to happen

to their son and why wasn't there a

treatment while Damien lay near death in

a pediatric intensive care unit his

father desperately searched for answers

he called an old friend from medical

school who specializes in blood

disorders John mornings here's think

here from medical school they hadn't

spoken in nearly 10 years but monix was

desperate

so my personal feeling was that the

doctor she are very good but they don't

see this very often marnix began to

describe the symptoms to his friend but

before he could finish doctor Kelton

knew the diagnosis I knew what he had in

two sentences on a telephone John Kelton

had spent his entire career studying

rare blood diseases many doctors had

never seen

you from his experience that the worst

wasn't over in subsequent telephone

calls it became apparent to me and of

considerable concern to me that Damien

was moving from this localized illness

called hemolytic uremic syndrome into

the far more severe illness called

thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura dr.

Kelton knew something the local doctors

did not there was only one thing that

will keep Damien alive a risky unproven

treatment many doctors believed was too

experimental

it was called a plasma exchange 9 out of

10 people who have thrombotic

thrombocytopenic purpura and are not

treated will die the plasma exchange was

a controversial recommendation it

involves completely exchanging the

liquid part of the patient's blood with

donated plasma what it is doing is

washing out toxic substances from the

blood stream the massive transfusions

would mean additional risks a possible

HIV or hepatitis infection but dr.

Kelton knew that the greater risk was

not doing anything I emphasized that

when I've known of similar patients who

did not receive treatment they

invariably worsened and the outcome was

death

once the daily plasma exchanges started

Damien's condition began to improve and

I could see that in my judgment toxins

and poisons and pretty awful things are

being suctioned out of his body

meanwhile Mary here Cink continued to

educate herself on him oolitic uremic

syndrome and the bacteria that caused it

96 to 98 percent of the cases of H us

are caused by this new lethal microbe

exploding in our food supply this is the

bacteria it's called a coli o157 watch

and you can see how one bacteria can

multiply

and become a deadly threat

epidemiologist can trace it back only as

far as the early 1970s but it's already

the leading cause of kidney failure in

American children it kills 500 people in

the United States each year most of them

children somehow the e.coli bacteria

entered Dameon system and triggered the

horrible blood disorder

Damien probably ingested the deadly

bacteria about a week to ten days

earlier a single bacterium could have

ignited the chain of events wildly

multiplying in the warm moist recesses

of Damian's intestines but where did it

come from contaminated water meat

unpasteurized juice and if it happened

while he was on the scout camping trip

why weren't any of the other Scouts

infected before doctors knew the plasma

therapy would work the disease struck

again an echocardiogram revealed the

Damian's heart was still under attack

they have to go in and pull off this

fluid which is accumulating around his

heart and in essence drowning him now

drastic measures would be needed to keep

Damien alive he needed more heart

surgery if something isn't done then the

heart will eventually stop was the

plasma exchange started too late to halt

the damage to his internal organs his

doctors and nurses weren't sure it was

really hard it was because you just

can't let kids die without a fight

Damien did fight and he survived the

heart surgery soon Damien started to

show some improvement the plasma

exchange is continued Damien could

breathe on his own but the disease was

for

another deadly as*ault on his weakened

body it started innocently enough

he was so thirsty he was just really

dying to get some fluids in and we

started with a little bit of fluid and

then mom I went to get him some ice

drink that she promised him when Damien

took a few sips disaster struck an

excruciating abdominal pain overwhelmed

him Marx was certain at that moment that

we had another catastrophe x-rays

confirmed

Monica's worst fears the disease had

blown a hole in Damian's intestines

poisonous bacteria were now being

released into his body and Damian would

need emergency surgery is the first time

I think I really accepted that Damian

could and would die and you know I had

to get ready now for him to die this is

going to be the end the anesthesia the

surgery the bacteria pouring from his

intestines any one of these were enough

to k*ll Damian he had very little to

fight with you refuse to lose your hope

though but you get the scrim feeling

inside like you just don't know if you

can do any more for them Damian's

parents and his doctors didn't know

if he could survive another battle

how did the deadly ecoli bacteria enter

Damien here sink was it from the water

at Boy Scout camp or was the bacteria in

the food and if it was something he ate

at Boy Scout camp

why weren't any of the other boys sick

surprisingly the answer came from Damien

himself it came to him in a dream as he

lay in the hospital

it happened that Scout cake it was my

job to make hamburger patties and we

cooked them on a grill over the campfire

you stack them up on a tray and it went

up to the table to get one I was really

hungry

and I saw a small piece of meat plate it

was just a tiny piece which looked like

it fell off one of the burgers I was so

hungry that I grabbed a piece made it I

knew there was a problem it was cold it

looked like it was cut but it was almost

raw

all my friends are around I didn't want

to just spit it out in front of him so I

just followed it when Damien woke up

after his dream he told his father what

happened but he independently came to

the realization and reported it almost

as a confessional to his dad that I know

it made me sick that is when I swallowed

that I knew that was wrong something was

wrong about that that's what made me

sick thoroughly cooking hamburger

usually kills the e.coli bacteria but

since Damien ate a piece of rare meat

the e.coli bacteria were multiplying

inside his system within minutes of

ingestion by the time Damien left for

Space Camp a week later the e.coli

bacteria had begun to produce toxins

which att*cked his vital organs

ironically the medicine Damien took to

relieve his diarrhea during the trip

probably made his condition worse

because it hindered his body's attempt

to flush the bacteria from his system

fortunately for Damien the experimental

plasma exchange worked it saved his life

by removing the deadly toxins from his

bloodstream after five weeks in

intensive care

seven operations and many agonizing

brushes with death

Damien survived his w*r against the

deadly e.coli bacteria at the same

camping trip that Damien was on other

children ate the same food it only

happened to him why did it happen to him

well the answer on a trivial levels is

that it was fate but obviously there is

something in certain individuals that

put them at risk of having this reaction

pretty scary just whenever I got a

chance to think about it and think about

everything that happened to me let's see

I'm pretty lucky to be alive right now

but others haven't been as fortunate in

1993 an outbreak of e.coli at several

jack-in-the-box

Tehran's k*lled three people and it left

this victim ten-year-old Brianne Kiner

with permanent brain damage and in the

summer of 1996 more than 9,000 Japanese

school children were infected with the

e.coli bacteria 11 died ecoli bacteria

usually come from the intestines of

cattle cow manure with e.coli can get

washed into streams and cause

contamination and when manure is used

for fertilizer it can contaminate apples

which fall to the ground if those same

apples are made into cider and it's not

pasteurized the cider can also be

contaminated but the most common method

of e.coli infection is through

contaminated ground beef when it isn't

properly cooked one study found that

three and a half percent of the ground

beef sold in supermarkets was infected

with the deadly ecoli oh one five seven

and there's also the problem of

cross-contamination liquids from tainted

ground beef can contaminate other foods

in a refrigerator or on countertops this

was a disease that was unheard of or a

very very rare even 10-15 years ago and

it's now in just a decade become the

leading cause of kidney failure in

United States children it's one of the

leading causes of pediatric death in

certain countries like Argentina Damien

here sinks brush with e.coli has not

only changed his life but also his

families his mother has written a book

about Damien's story and founded an

international organization dedicated to

eliminating ecoli from our food supply

Damien is one of the lucky ones today

he's a healthy 16 year old he plays on

the high school basketball team watches

his brothers play on the school football

team and to starting to look at

jeez whenever I think about everything

that happened to me and everything that

could've gone wrong but didn't very

fortunate he has lost 25% of his lung

capacity and will always be at risk of

future kidney problems but his story has

continued to help others Damien is our

masterpiece he is probably one of our

best accomplishments and successes

because he had so many critical problems

and he came out so well I believe that a

lot of things that I have in my life are

because of things other people have done

for me and our family and certainly

myself I we have an obligation to try to

make things better for others because

what we have is we have life we have our

son and we have a wonderful family and

we need to be able to give back that's

what we're trying to do which once I had

everybody down in Tampa like doctor

sensei all the nurses Terry Sara

nto the pound nurses in her mail

and thank you

watch what you eat