Anti-Fungal Agent Saves Young Boy's Life

 

Because of an anti-fungal drug developed at M. D. Anderson, Court Harris is now a healthy, active 13-year-old boy who enjoys playing soccer.

 

 

Court Harris was clearly dying from complications of acute leukemia when he arrived at M. D. Anderson in September 1987. He was 19 days shy of his third birthday.

 

"He was wasting away from the fungal infection that had overwhelmed his body. His doctors in the Chicago area had tried everything, but nothing worked," recalls Court's mother, Michelle Harris. "He was down to 24 pounds when our oncologist learned about a study at M. D. Anderson."

 

The early clinical research that offered a chance for Court was being conducted by Dr. Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, who had developed a technique to enclose the anti-fungal drug amphotericin-B in microscopic fatty capsules called liposomes. His method allowed higher doses with less toxicity to some cancer patients, for whom fungal infections are often lethal. "Dr. Lopez agreed to see Court as soon as we could get to Houston. Looking back, I was praying for a miracle because we knew this was a last resort," Harris says.

 

Now a professor of medicine and chief of the Section of Immunobiology and Drug Carriers, Dr. Lopez remembers his first examination of Court. "He was very sick. I hoped he could hang on until the liposomal amphotericin-B could arrest the infection."

 

Within a few days, Court responded to the powerful drug. Though extremely weak, he was able to enjoy his third birthday, blowing out three big candles on a chocolate cake.

 

"We could see progress almost every day. After six weeks of the liposomal drug treatment, Dr. Lopez told us to take Court home and try to live as normally as possible. And that's basically what we've done," Harris says.

 

Today, Court is 13, an honor student in the seventh grade and a computer whiz. He plays on the school's basketball team as well as a traveling soccer team. This summer, he will go with an academic group to Europe. He lives with his parents and 7-year-old brother Jonathan in Arlington Heights, near Chicago.

 

"Court is going through a good growth spurt and appears to be just a normal teenager," Harris reports. "My husband (David) and I will be forever grateful to Dr. Lopez and M. D. Anderson for saving our son when no one else thought he had a chance."

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