Fadi the fighter
This is just a test
Clinical update
Fadi the fighter
When Fadi Marto was 3, he came
down with what his parents thought was a routine stomach bug. But
when he didn't
improve in a few days, they visited a pediatrician in their native
Jordan. After many tests, an MRI revealed a large tumor in Fadi's
brain.
The doctors in Jordan offered little hope, so
Fadi's
parents turned to Michael Scott, MD, chief of Neurosurgery at Children's
Hospital Boston.
On the flight to Boston, Fadi became paralyzed
from the waist down and lost much of his sight, and a full assessment
at Children's
showed that Fadi's surgery couldn't wait. "The
tumor was very large and was causing considerable pressure in Fadi's
brain," says Scott. "We knew the operation needed to
be done right away."
During the procedure, Scott found that
the tumor had spread to Fadi's spinal cord, making complete
removal impossible, so Fadi went through radiation to target the
remaining tumor. "After
radiation, he still had minimal movement," says his father,
Souheil. "The doctors told us that at best he would be able
to stand up, leaning against a chair or table for support."
But
Fadi and his parents refused to accept that prognosis, and just
one year after returning to Jordan, Fadi took his first step. By
the following year, he could walk across the room, then in his
neighborhood and beyond. "At first, he had splints on his
legs, then he moved to a walker, and then to crutches, all of which
he fought," recalls Souheil. "He was really determined
to walk on his own."
But walking wasn't the only challenge
Fadi faced. After all of his treatments, he had lost almost everything
he learned in his first three years. "We had to completely
start over, teaching him the colors, numbers, everything," says
his mother, Abeer. "The doctors recommended that he learn
more than one language, so in addition to Arabic, Fadi learned
English."
The Martos returned to Children's in August
2004—eight
years after the original diagnosis—so Fadi could have surgery
to correct cataracts caused by the radiation. He's expected
to retain his vision, and went home to Jordan in September, to
the school where he keeps up with the other kids academically,
and they try to keep up with his fighting spirit. "Fadi has
become an inspiration to the kids at his school," says Abeer. "They
say, ‘If Fadi can do it, I have to do it.' They call
him ‘Fadi the fighter,' and that's truly what
he is."
This is just a test
The defibrillator is real. So are
the ventilator and vital-signs monitor. A code cart stands ready
with medications. Real oxygen flows through the tubes and pumps.
And the tension in the crowded room is teeth-grindingly real.
In fact, the only thing that isn't real in the Simulator Suite
is the patient.
The residents, fellows, critical
care nurses, and respiratory therapist are responding to a mock
Code Blue, where a boy-sized mannequin has an irregular heartbeat,
faint but palpable pulse, dilated left pupil and a difficult-to-ventilate
airway.
Three unseen video cameras record
the resuscitation's
progress. In a control room, Simulator Program Coordinator Liana
Stanley, MEd, edits the scene on the fly, "voices" the boy and
reprograms a computer to add new twists to his clinical condition.
Later, the clinicians watch the videotape and discuss what went
well and what didn't. Non-judgmental, constructive feedback is
the rule.
"You watch yourself on the video
taking forever to reach the right decision," says
senior resident Jennifer Noon, MD. "It's kind of agonizing, but the next time
you'll get to that decision faster."
Now in its third year, the fully-equipped
Simulator Suite is one of the nation's
first based at a pediatric hospital, and is used to train critical caregivers
throughout Children's Hospital Boston. The lessons learned here are not soon
forgotten.
"The material gets imprinted on the mind far more effectively than when we sit
around the table with them saying, ëOkay, guys, don't forget to do this,'" says
Jeff Burns, MD, MPH, co-director of the Simulator Program. "There's
no question our emergency preparedness is better."