Lisa and I wanted to share an e-mail we received from Dr. Bob, Mack’s PICU doctor in Hershey. Mack continues to GIVE in so many ways! Here is Dr. Bob’s e-mail...

We have recently started an initiative here at the hospital focused on the prevention and treatment of RSV in pediatric cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients. As you know, this has always been a high priority at the hospital. It is our hope that this initiative will further enhance our ability to prevent and treat this virus among these children. As we did for Mack, we want to continue to provide the most state of the art therapy for these vulnerable children.

Needless to say, "Mack" has been the source of much of my motivation in this endeavor. In short, we have developed a set of guidelines that delineate the most up-to-date therapies aimed at the prevention and treatment of RSV infections in pediatric oncology and HSCT patients. We have formed a group that has met monthly since the Spring with representatives from multiple disciplines of medicine (e.g. oncology, critical care, pulmonology, infectious disease, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, and nursing) to research and develop these guidelines. We have purchased state of the art equipment to ensure the safe delivery of certain medications. We have developed a data collection form such that we can collect data and monitor our outcomes. It is our lofty goal to eliminate deaths related to the RSV virus for these children. We hope to share our ideas with other children's hospitals to make this a widespread mission. I will be presenting many of our ideas at a North American Oncology / Critical Care meeting this coming March. I will certainly keep you abreast of our progress.

Best wishes and please let me know how I can help.
Bob