
Boy, 4, makes miraculous recovery at New York hospital after complications from E. Coli
The LaRose family might never know what infected their son, Jake, with the condition that nearly killed him. In an exclusive to the Daily News, Jake’s mom Kimberly discusses her family’s terrifying ordeal.
BY Meredith Engel
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, September 10, 2014, 4:56 PM
Jacob LaRose almost didn’t make it to pre-K.
The little boy, 4, was sidelined for much of the summer after contracting a rare complication from E. Coli.
E. Coli, a bacterium, is naturally present in our large intestines, according to Dr. Bruce Greenwald, one of Jake’s doctors and the chief of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Komansky Center for Children’s Health at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
But Jake must have eaten something that introduced a harmful strain of the bug, E. Coli O157:H7, into his body. A common source is undercooked hamburger meat, Greenwald said. Symptoms caused by this alternative strain of E. Coli include fever and bloody diarrhea.
And to make matters much worse, Jake developed a scary complication, hemolytic uremic syndrome, that nearly killed him.
HUS happens when E. Coli O157:H7 enters the digestive tract and releases toxins, which then get into the bloodstream and destroy red blood cells. Affected patients can go on to develop anemia, low platelets and kidney complications. It affects about 1 to 3 out of every 100,000 patients.
Jake’s mother, Kimberly LaRose, is still unsure just how her son, as well as 2-year-old daughter Hayden, came into contact with the bug. Both Hayden and Jake fell ill with diarrhea in March, but when their pediatrician noted how sick Jake looked, the family took him straight to the ER.
They didn’t leave until Memorial Day weekend.
Jake initially was treated at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey, near his home in Clifton. Three days after entering the hospital, he was transferred to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center because doctors realized he not only had E. Coli, but HUS, which caused his kidneys to fail. Jake was put on continuous dialysis.
https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/boy-4-miraculous-recovery-e-coli-article-1.1935247