Reasons for Praise

Here is an update from Wilfred & Joanne.

Cassie Update,

First of all we apologize for not posting this earlier this week as there was some uncertainty on the course of treatment.

From the Lumbar Punctures, MRIs and Video EEG it was determined that Cassie had contracted a virus as the white blood cell count in her spinal fluid was 39. Normally it is around 3 to 5 hence a virus was present. The white blood cell count on the last LP was 4. This indicates the body took care of the virus for which we are very thankful. The question that caused concern to the medical staff was, why wasn’t Cassie improving and why at times did Cassie’s condition appear to be recessing?

The theory is that the autoimmune system then started attacking itself. This is known as “Limbic Encephalitis” and “presents itself with many of the same symptoms (e.g. memory loss, seizures and confusion) as infectious encephalitis but a causative virus, such as herpes simplex, is not present. In fact, the cause is an antibody - made by the immune system. Antibodies are made by all healthy individuals in response to infections or after vaccination. The antibodies attack the infectious agent (such as a virus) and help the body’s immune system get rid of the infection. The immune system has to make literally millions of different antibodies in order to combat effectively different infections. It also makes antibodies to respond to damaged or abnormal tissue, such as cancer tissue. Unfortunately, a few of these antibodies may “cross-react” with the patient’s healthy tissue proteins, attacking the tissue and causing an autoimmune disease.”

Since April 30^th Cassie has had four – 4 hour treatments of intravenous and imoglobin (IV/IG).

Reasons for Praise: There has been a great improvement. Cassie can talk coherently, she has started to keep a diary, goes for long walks with us. Cassie has also started a rehab program which includes art, spelling and math. Finally, she is taking pride in the small things that we take for granted such as, washing her face, brushing her teeth, getting dressed and tying shoe laces.

Another big step was that Cassie was granted permission to come home for the day on Mother’s Day.

We continue to be grateful for all the prayers, support, acts of kindness and love. May the Lord continue to be gracious and grant full recovery to Cassie.