22
COM Outlook . Spring 2015
Initially, there didn’t appear to be
anything worrisome except for a bit
of inflammation in Bral’s throat and
neck, which the physician said was
probably a mild case of lymphocy-
tosis. “My pediatrician said, ‘You’re
probably catching something or get-
ting over something, so don’t worry
about it. In a week’s time it should
be gone.’”
Unfortunately, when a week came
and went, Bral was still feeling fa-
tigued and having difficulty breath-
ing. “I would get winded going up
the stairs, so we knew there was
clearly something going on,” Bral
explained. “We went back to see my
pediatrician, who wasn’t sure what
exactly was going on and suggested
some diagnostic tests and an ap-
pointment with a specialist.”
After undergoing a series of tests,
the pulmonologist he visited gave
the concerned 11 year old an inhaler
to see if it would help alleviate the
symptoms. “I went back to school,
but my mom and I noticed that the
inhaler didn’t really work because
within a few minutes I would be
wheezing again,” said Bral, who has
two younger siblings. “I was then
sent to another specialist who said,
‘This is definitely asthma-related.
You just need something stronger.’
So he gave me oral steroids and
made me breathe with a nebulizer
in the nurse’s office, but it didn’t
help. To my mom’s credit, she wasn’t
convinced the asthma diagnosis was
correct. Call it mother’s intuition, but
she knew something was wrong.”
Over the next several weeks, a
similar scenario occurred with mad-
dening predictability as Bral and his
mother visited a range of specialists
yet continued to hear the same diag-
noses they had received for almost
two months. “It was very frustrating
because by this point I had under-
gone numerous blood tests, X-rays,
and imaging exams, but no definitive
diagnosis was ever reached—and I
wasn’t feeling any better.”
A Devastating Diagnosis
Call it divine intervention or
simple childhood folly, but a painful
interaction with a kitchen blender
would soon prove to be a lifesaving
injury. “I don’t know why I did it, but
one day I stuck my finger in a blender
and cut off a piece of my finger,” Bral
explained. “Because it wouldn’t stop
bleeding, we had to go to Children’s
Hospital to get it cauterized.”
During the emergency room visit,
Bral’s mother happened to share
details with the ER physician of her
son’s medical issues, which had yet
to be resolved. As a result, Bral was
referred to another specialist within
Children’s Hospital, who recom-
mended that Bral get a PET scan. “I
had the three-hour-long PET scan at
a nuclear imaging center, and when
I was finished, I was told I could
hang out in the lobby or go across
the street to the bookstore while the
medical team discussed the results
with my mom. I love to read, so I
chose to go to the bookstore.”
Because he was so immersed in
his reading, Bral failed to notice
how much time had passed. “When
I looked up, I noticed it was start-
