The Heartbreak of SJS When it Strikes a Child

July 18, 2011, 6:15AM. By Gordon Gibb

Boston, MAThere are a host of debilitating diseases in the world that affect a myriad of people often through no fault of their own. Such is the case with Stevens Johnson Syndrome—also known as SJS—a horrific skin condition usually triggered by an adverse reaction to medication that can sometimes kill.

As sad as those cases are, when such a disease affects a child, it is heartbreaking.

Such a child has been receiving treatment at the Boston Foundation for Sight (BFS). Jesse is a six-year-old from Ghana who is receiving treatment at the BFS at no charge. The reason Jesse is there is due to one of the side effects of Stevens Johnson Syndrome rash—blindness and problems with the eyes. While treatment for severe SJS is usually conducted in the burn units of hospitals due to the characteristic of skin sloughing off in large sections when SJS sets in, the negative impact on the eyes has relegated many an SJS patient to living with partial blindness in one, or both eyes.

That's why Jesse is in Boston, receiving treatment for his eyes. Treatment that only the BFS can provide.

A Canadian lawyer has similar experience with the specialized ocular facility in Boston, if not directly with Stevens Johnson Syndrome symptoms. Ralph Jarchow's young daughter has been receiving treatment in Boston for a rare ocular disorder. It was while attending to his daughter's treatment that Jarchow was introduced not only to Jesse, but also to the tremendous care extended to Jesse and his mother by members of the BFS medical community and staff.

At no charge. Treatment that would cost thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A cyclist, Jarchow decided to embark on a fundraising ride that will take him by bicycle from Calgary to Brampton, a city within the metropolitan Toronto corridor, to raise funds for not only Jesse's care, but for others similarly afflicted but without the means to afford treatment.

Stevens Johnson skin disease can strike without warning, and without any respect for age. Small children, as well as robust adults have equally succumbed to the devastation brought on by SJS, an affliction likened to serious burns. Many take months to recover. Many more don't recover fully. Some have died, child and adult alike.

Stevens Johnson syndrome lawyers have aided many plaintiffs in lawsuits aimed at compensation for medical and post-medical care when SJS strikes. Many cases have alleged that medicine thought to serve as a potential trigger for SJS rash, did not carry sufficient warnings to patients and the medical community that such an adverse reaction might be even possible.