New tests added to newborn screenings

James Henry Polacek was 8 months and 2 days old when he died from complications linked to severe combined immunodeficiency disorder a condition that he was born with, but that was unknown to his parents until it was too late to save him. Had James’ immune disorder been caught earlier, a bone marrow transplant would have given him an excellent chance at survival — and at a normal life.

“Just a drop of blood when he was born would have changed everything,” says James’s mother, Kristy Polacek of Conway. “One of the things we told James as we held him was that we promised he was going to save other babies. We weren’t going to let this happen to another baby.”

When he was born, SCID was already on a list of conditions newborns are routinely screened for at birth in several other states. It will soon be part of the newborn screening program in Arkansas as well, under Act 428 of 2013.

See Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more details.

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