Medical Reports: Crohn's Disease In Children

WSVN -- Fifteen-year-old Taralyn is finally in the driver's seat. Just a few months before she get's her driver's license she is finally learning to drive. Her mother is watching her every move because it's been a long road getting here. For the last four years, Taralyn's suffered from Crohn's Disease.

Dr. Howard Baron, Pediatric Gastroenterologist: "People aren't aware that Crohn's Disease can affect children. The parents will assume it's the flu, and it goes on and on and on."

Crohn's is an inflammatory bowel disease where the intestinal lining becomes inflamed, causing severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and bleeding.

Taralyn's Crohn's was treated with steroids, which relieved some of the pain but caused her to go from 70 pounds to 130 pounds in just a few months. Now Taralyn is off the steroids.

She is the first child in the world to take part in a study of a new drug, Humira. It's already successfully used on adults.

Dr. Howard Baron: "It is an antibody against a chemical that starts the inflammatory cascade in your body."

But the drug can decrease the immune system, and kids with Crohn's could be at a slightly higher risk for lymphoma. For Taralyn, it's worked.

Taralyn: "Crohn's doesn't exist in me anymore. I feel completely normal."

And now that her stomach pain is gone, she'll concentrate on the road ahead.

The youngest patient enrolled so far is 10 years old. The drug is still in studies. Children as young as 5 can enroll in the clinical trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Sunrise Children's Hospital
Ashlee Seymour, Director of Media Relations
Sunrise Children's Hospital
ashlee.seymour@hcahealthcare.com
(702) 731-8288