Kids with AFM explore treatment options as public health professionals brace for next outbreak.
Quinton was in church when his father said he began feeling symptoms of a cold.
Chris Carr looks after his son, Camdyn, who was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, which caused paralysis on much of his body. "The scary thing about coming home was knowing it was all on myself because I’m the only certified caregiver," Carr said."So I’m the only person that can do anything in an emergency situation for him. If I mess up and my son passes away, it’s on my shoulders. No one else's.""You’re always on edge," he said."You always feel like something is going to happen at any given time. That’s why I don’t sleep.
“It goes back to 2009, when we had several patients admitted to our hospital here in Dallas ... who had what we described as an atypical transverse myelitis, which means inflammation of the spinal cord,” Greenberg said. Todd Hammer’s condition, however, hasn’t stopped her from doing her best to live life ably. She's learned how to drive and was accepted into Davidson College, where she plans to live on campus. She’s also written several children's books about her experience while also making a clothing line for children with disabilities.
Greenberg said that his team is also"gaining knowledge" on why the virus, over time, has begun paralyzing patients. In part, he said, it’s because"the virus has mutated." Neurosurgeon Dr. Mitchel Seruya talks to"Nightline" about his work helping children with acute flaccid myelitis.For Quinton, who underwent the surgery, that meant harvesting functioning nerves from his chest and connecting them to the paralyzed nerves in his body so that they can reconnect with the spine. Once the connection is made -- glue helps to reinforce it, Seruya said -- the body parts that were once paralyzed should be able to move, albeit after months of therapy.
Quinton had his arm in a cast for eight weeks, his father said, and he seemed to be healing well when it was removed. Later, they decided to put Quinton through a second surgery, which was successful. After several months of rehab, Quinton has slowly begun to regain strength in his left side. "Yeah, we just want to make sure he has every possibility to be as healthy as can be," Erika Hill, Quinton’s mother, said.
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