Toddler given stem-cell transplant doing well

Sickle-cell anemia patient back at home in Cedar Hill

06/26/2002

By TIARA M. ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News

As Joseph Davis Sr. drove his son around the corner of Carberry Street in Cedar Hill last week, the 2-year-old's face lit up. He was back home. Joseph Davis II had spent more than six weeks in a hospital room recuperating from chemotherapy that preceded a stem-cell transplant from his newborn brother's umbilical cord. "At this point he could not be doing better," said Dr. Carl Lenarsky, Joseph's doctor at North Texas Hospital for Children at Medical City Dallas Hospital.

The regenerative cells were collected from newborn Isaac's umbilical cord to combat the sickle-cell anemia that has ravaged Joseph since he was born.

Mr. Davis and his wife, Darlene, did not know they were carriers of the sickle-cell anemia trait when they were trying to have Joseph.

After doctors searched for a matching blood donor for more than a year, Mrs. Davis unexpectedly became pregnant again. Isaac did not have sickle cell and was a perfect blood match for his brother.

When the infant was born in February, his umbilical cord was harvested and stored for the transplant, which took place in early May.

Even though Joseph is back home readjusting to his daily routine, he's not officially cured. His doctors will not know whether his body has started producing healthy cells for months.

"This is a critical time over the next six months," Dr. Lenarsky said. "There is a possibility that his own bone marrow will grow back, but this is the best we could expect."

Joseph has spent much of his life at hospitals and doctors' offices. He knows the routine of giving blood, being weighed and examined by men in white coats. But on his first visit to Dr. Lenarsky's office after being released from the hospital, he was openly anxious.

He cried while standing on the scale, repeatedly called for his mother and kept looking for Isaac, who was being held by his grandmother Flossie Allen. At one point during the visit, Joseph and Isaac took turns crying. Joseph was not all tears, though. In between eating cookies and hugging a stuffed dog that Dr. Lenarsky gave him, he smiled and shared high-fives. He will have to return to Dr. Lenarsky's office twice a week as the doctor monitors his immune system and the growth of cells. He will eventually see the doctor once a week, then a couple of times a month, as he becomes stronger.

During each visit, his mother receives an update on Joseph's cell count and whether there are signs of sickle cells. Doctors expect to find some because Isaac is a carrier of the sickle-cell trait just like his parents, but they hope the numbers are low.

In the meantime, the Davis family has encouraged Joseph to get back to old routines such as playing the piano with his father and spending time with his baby brother and older twin sisters. "Joseph is very talkative. He will let you know what he wants to do," Mrs. Davis said.

When Joseph returned home last week, he ran straight to his toy rocking horse, Mrs. Davis said. He often cried for his "horsy" while in the hospital. After testing his horse, he walked through each room in the Cedar Hill home before he was satisfied that things were as they should be, Mr. Davis said.

E-mail tellis@dallasnews.com