User talk:Cameronjonesmit

''Miracle in Texas

years ago when doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital concluded that there was little else they could do for Cameron Jones, a five-year-old Texas boy suffering from a rare malformation of the intestine, they referred him to the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center for a risky, last-ditch procedure: transplantation of his intestine, stomach, and pancreas. UM/Jackson is one of the few facilities in the United States capable of performing the complex procedure.

But once in Miami, surgeons recommended yet another option: removal, repair, and return of the original organs to the boy’s body. The highly unusual procedure, called auto transplantation, had been done only twice before in the world. Luckily, one of them had been performed by Andreas Tzakis, M.D., codirector of the School of Medicine Division of Transplantation and the man who would be treating Cameron. “Obviously we were ready to try anything,” says the boy’s father, Charlie Jones, from their home in Grand Saline, Texas. “Without something really drastic, we knew he would die.”

Cameron was suffering from venous malformation mesentery, an abnormality of the blood vessels that causes veins to grow in a tangled mass within the abdominal organs. The condition, which he likely had since birth, caused internal bleeding and distention of the stomach. He was being fed from a feeding tube; his growth was stunted. By the time he reached age five, doctors said he could die at any moment from massive bleeding. Two previous surgeries to correct the malformation proved unsuccessful. A transplant seemed his last hope.

But Dr. Tzakis, one of the world’s foremost intestinal transplant surgeons, searched for an alternative to the high-risk procedure. Intestinal transplants are uncommon because the body’s immune response is especially strong in the abdominal area, often causing rejection of the new organ. He ruled out surgical repair of the malformation, because it would be too difficult to stem blood flow from the sponge-like mass of veins. Instead, he removed most of Cameron’s intestines and pancreas and about 40 percent of his stomach. The organs were placed in chilled water to preserve them, allowing Dr. Tzakis to dissect the abnormal growth, clear obstructions and clots, and reconstruct blood flow. The organs were then implanted back into Cameron’s body. The procedure lasted 19 hours.

Today Cameron is eating normally. His height and weight are up. Dr. Tzakis has found no signs of the malformation returning. Jones calls his son’s recovery a miracle. “Most of his doctors had given up hope. But Cameron cheated death,” Jones insists. “This fall he’ll be starting school for the first time. That’s something we thought we’d never have a chance to see''