I had a dream about a PI friend last night. He has had a long struggle trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy. We hadn't heard from him in some time, so a friend messaged his family to see if there were any developments in his condition. In my dream, we learned of his passing and it was all very sad. We sent flowers to the funeral and organized fundraisers in his memory. It was very vivid to me and left me feeling very uneasy about his condition in reality.
As it turns out, those fears have some basis. My friend heard from him today and found out he's been diagnosed with IPEX Syndrome. IPEX syndrome is often found much younger, so I'm very concerned for his prognosis. It is a defect in the T cells that leads to total chaos in the immune system. Immune deficiencies, autoimmune problems, ridiculous allergic reactions to almost every food. It makes sense based on his experience, but it's shocking to me that it wasn't figured out sooner.
So now my friend will prepare for the first line treatment for IPEX... a bone marrow transplant. He's very fortunate to have 2 matched donors and will undergo the treatment this fall. I'm thankful at this point for the developments in the transplants and the fact that even a partially successful graft will make a huge difference in his life. I just hope the rest of my dream does not become reality.
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