New Trail
Shauna Thomas wasn't a perfect match to be her son Tyler Gaymon's stem cell
donor, but she didn't need to be. Thanks to a new option available at Cohen
Children's Medical Center, the future is promising for them both.
H
ow could anyone ever express enough
gratitude to the person who might have
saved his life? For Ms. Thomas, a simple,
heartfelt "thank you" from Tyler said it all. After
everything mother and son went through in 2015,
they both had plenty of reasons to be thankful.
Frightening Diagnosis
Last summer, Tyler, a 10-year-old only child who
lives with his mother in Springfield Gardens,
Queens, developed swelling in his neck and face
and experienced such debilitating pain that he
struggled to walk. Tyler's pediatrician knew he
needed a higher level of care to pinpoint the cause
of the mysterious symptoms and referred him
to Cohen Children's. Weeks of laboratory testing
eventually provided a diagnosis: Tyler had a type
of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a group of
disorders that prevents immature blood cells
from reaching full maturity. A lack of fully formed
blood cells leaves the body vulnerable to infection,
anemia and easy bleeding, according to the
National Cancer Institute. MDS can also lead
to leukemia.
Tyler Gaymon, stem cell transplant patient, with his mother, Shauna Thomas
Joel Brochstein, MD, pediatric hematologist-oncologist
at Cohen Children's Medical Center, set a challenge for
himself: to effectively prevent potentially fatal graft-
versus-host disease (GvHD) for children who required
stem cell transplants.
Dr. Brochstein had read of promising results at Thomas
Jefferson University in Philadelphia in adult leukemia and
myelodysplastic syndrome patients who had undergone
haploidentical transplants, and he now applies that
methodology to patients at Cohen Children's.
"During the past several years, clinical and laboratory
scientists have collaborated to develop ways to remove
the cells that cause GvHD, making transplants from
mismatched family members a very feasible treatment
New Trail New Trail New Trail New Trail New Trail New Trail New Trail New Trail New Trail
Opening
Doors
for
Family
Donors
Blazing
a
CohenChildrens.com
14
kidsFIRST | Fall 2016
hematology
