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Heart boy waits for lifesaving double transplantHeart and lung swap is only hope for Jack, five, in battle against rare condition
Emma Dunlop
A boy aged five who suffers from an incurable illness has been put on an urgent waiting list for a double heart and lung transplant in a last-ditch attempt to save his life. For the past four years, Jack Waller, from Brampton near Barnsley, has survived only because of a unique machine he carries in a tiny backpack, 24 hours a day. Every three minutes it pumps life-saving drugs into his body to help him breathe.
Jack, who is the mascot for South Yorkshire's first dedicated children's hospice, Bluebell Wood, suffers from a rare form of primary pulmonary hypertension, where blood vessels in his lungs are too small for the blood to flow, causing a huge build-up of pressure on the heart. Specialists at London's Great Ormond Street children's hospital have now decided to refer Jack for a double transplant as his only hope.
His father Steve Waller yesterday said the family were all being positive about the news. He said: "The only way to react to something like this is to be positive. "At the end of the day, if successful, this operation could give Jack another 10 years. Without it he would never have that. "It is replacing one set of medical worries with another, but we always knew this day would come where Jack would be put on the waiting list.
"He is now the right weight and age for such a transplant. Even if they only get a pair of lungs they will still transplant them into Jack. "But if they get a heart and lungs they will use Jack's heart in another child." Mr Waller and wife Diane both have emergency bleepers and mobile phones which they carry with them at all times, directly linking them with Great Ormond Street.
Jack is the only boy of his age and size currently on the waiting list and so they could get the call at any time of the day or night. Once alerted, the family will be whisked down to London in a special emergency car and the operation will be performed immediately.
"It is just a waiting game now," added Mr Waller, who is also the father of twin boys, Adam and Joe, aged three. "Jack needs this chance now. "If successful, the average life span following transplant is 10 years, and in medical terms 10 years is a long time, they could have found a further treatment by then. "So as far as we are concerned the future is looking good for Jack. We are just keeping our fingers crossed now."
But for Mr Waller the best thing about the transplant, should it be successful, will be being able to let Jack have a proper bath and even go swimming. At the moment because of his back-pack and a tube into his stomach to feed him, Jack can only bathe in three inches of water.
Jack, who now goes to Brampton Cortonwood infant school, was diagnosed with his illness when he was only 14 months old. The blood vessels in his lungs are so small that his heart is has to work nearly one hundred times harder than an adult heart to pump blood round his body.
But when doctors first discovered he was ill, they told his parents they may as well prepare for the worst as there was nothing they could do to save Jack. However, Mr Waller decided to take it upon himself to research his son's illness on the Internet and managed to track down the specialist team who have helped to give Jack a chance of life.
Anyone wanting further information about the illness should visit website www.pha-uk or freephone 08003898156.
emma.dunlop@ypn.co.uk
Wyeth's profit rises 18 percent
By Thomas Ginsberg
Inquirer Staff Writer
Jul. 21, 2005 - Wyeth said yesterday that its second-quarter earnings rose 18 percent, driven by strong sales of its arthritis and heartburn medications, especially overseas.
The Madison, N.J., company, whose pharmaceutical headquarters are in Collegeville, also said production at its new factory in Ireland had taken off slightly better than expected.
In addition, it reported steady progress in settling roughly 60,000 remaining claims in its product-liability case involving the diet-drug combination known as fen-phen.
"Strong revenue growth is driving outstanding bottom-line performance," Ken Martin, chief financial officer, told analysts in a conference call. He said the company expected to hit the upper-end of its full-year earnings guidance of $2.80 to $2.90 per share.
Wyeth's second-quarter earnings were 72 cents per share, slightly ahead of the Wall Street forecast of 70 cents. Wyeth shares closed up $1.28 at $46.28 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Bernard Poussot, the pharmaceutical-division president, said second-quarter sales over the last year rose 11 percent in North America, 20 percent in Europe, 24 percent in Latin America, and 31 percent in the Asian-Pacific region.
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Contact staff writer Thomas Ginsberg at 215-854-4177 or tginsberg@phillynews.com.
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