Children With Rare Disease Get HelpReported by: Karen Hopkins
Friday, Feb 6, 2009 @09:29pm CST
About 20 children a year suffer from kidney disease in our area. Before, families had to travel to Dallas or New Orleans for treatment, but now, they can get it in Shreveport at Christus Schumpert Sutton Children’s Medical Center.
Naveah is just 11 months old. "I just see a happy little baby," Father James Cutchall said. Naveah gets check up's all the time; she was born with kidney disease. "They just told us the news that her kidney's weren't functioning, and she only had 15 to 17 percent kidney function, and she needed to be put on dialysis," Cutchall said.
For months, her parents drove to New Orleans for treatment because Shreveport did not offer it. "She'd have an infection and we had to rush down there to stay down there, 4-5 days."
When Naveah was about 6 months old Dr. Lewis Reisman moved to Shreveport. He started a local practice to help children like Naveah. "I had a teacher that taught me it's our job to protect children," Reisman said.
Naveah's chest has a dialysis tube to remove poisons from her tiny body, something kidneys do normally. "What she has and what we have to do every day, it's just a daily routine for us now. I don't really think about her being sick; she’s just a normal child in my eyes."
But soon, Naveah should get a kidney transplant. "Chances are excellent we're going to do this," Reisman said.
The doctor says it will help Naveah grow, with her parents by her side.
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