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Reviewed By: Brunilda Nazario,
SOURCES: 2007 Medical Reference from Medstar Television. Vera Krymskaya, PhD, Pulmonary Researcher, Hospital of the University of Penn., Philadelphia, PA.
© 1999-2011 Medstar Television
Sheila Egan Addis (E-gun AD-iss) has a history of collapsed lungs. They started when she was in her late 20's.
I thought the first time that I was having a heart attack or something. I didn't know what was going on.
Doctors didn't either. It took ten years before they put a name on Sheila's problem.
It's Lymphangioleiomyomatosis.
'LAM', for short, is a rare and deadly lung disease. It occurs when an unusual type of muscle cell invades the lung tissue, eventually blocking the airways.
Loss of pulmonary function could be devastating for the state of the patient and only usually a lung transplant could save patient's life.
If that's not devastating enough, the disease strikes women in their childbearing years. Hormones are thought to play a role.
When women become pregnant, that's often when the disease progresses.
There's no cure and Doctor Krymskaya (Krim-SKY-yah) wants to change that. A genetic breakthrough in her research lab at the university of Pennsylvania led to a study with rapamycin (Rap-uh-MY-sin), an anti-rejection drug used to treat transplant patients.
That trial to treat LAM patients with rapamycin gave very promising results.
Sheila is grateful for the research and that she had her children before her problems started. Now her goal is to see them grow up.
Son playing violin
I don't like to think about, I don't like to think about not being around for them, but yeah, that's, that is really my ultimate priority.
Good job buddy.
For WebMD, I'm Damon Meharg.
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