I have had several requests from people regarding information about Sam's research into LyP (Heath's disorder), so...here it is:
Ten hours after Heather had her third child, her legs were covered with hundreds of papules that were thought to be infection. Later, biopsy determined they were t-cell tumors of Lymphomatoid Papulosis or LyP. This rare disease has no known cause or cure and 20%of cases progress to Lymphoma. Hers was a particularly violent onset of the disease. Sam was 15 at the time and he told Heath that he would find the cause of the disease and he would cure her. She really didn't believe he could, but was moved by his love for her. He started researching and decided that there had to be a connection to the birth. His theory was that stem cells came from the newest baby into Heather's body and were turned into T-cells (immune cells) in the skin and were actually the baby's immune cells warring with Heather's immune cells. He likened it to what happens after someone has a bone marrow transplant. They can develop 'graft vs host' disease where the new immune cells in the marrow actually start to attack the body they were put into to save. Often, a chemo agent, methyltrexate, is given with the bone marrow transplant to make the new immune cells less likely to attack the new body. Coincidentally, the doctors had put Heather on methytrexate as an attempt to control this disease, as it seemed to work, although they really didn't know why.
Sam decided that he would try to look at the DNA within Heath's tumors and compare that DNA to Heather, the new baby, Robby and Anna. He worked thousands of hours. Often he would call me to pick him up at 11pm because, 'the janitors are kicking me out...' He could not get the results he needed at his school so he made arrangements with Saginaw Valley State University to work in their labs.
One day, Heather and my mom were shopping in Grand Ledge where she was living. Sam called. He said, 'Mom, I was able to do the tests and I got valid results. The tumors do not match the new baby, Maddy." My mom said, 'Son, you tried so hard and you should be pleased with the hard work that you did.' He said, 'Wait, mom, the tumors didn't match Heather, either, they matched ROBBY! (Her first born child).
Sam compiled his results, presented as a science fair project to try to get medical interest in what he had found. He ended up winning top prize in the international science fair (INTEL ISEF) in biochemistry. He had competed against multiple other students that were the top students from their countries. This officially made him the top biochem student in the world in 2003. Throughout three science fairs, he made many contacts in the medical field. The most important, though, was that with Dr. Kadin, who is considered one of the top specialists in the world in Lyp. He invited Sam to work with him on his patients to verify the results of the original experiment. Sam worked at Harvard from July through November 2004 and was to return summer of 2005. He had won a stipend from the American Hematology Association to do this work at Harvard. ( He is the only not post-graduate student to ever receive this award.) Sam had also taken 17 credits on line thru MSU while at Harvard and actually attended MSU starting January 19, 2005. Of course, the Feb 14, 2005, accident changed the course of all of our lives. We pray that Sam will return to his promising life because we love him so much, but also for the promise that he shows of being able to help so many people with his compassion and his intelligence.