Thursday, June 6, 2013

See e-mail below from to me and my forward note to Chris, my children and Denise. It describes my role as physician at NIH in the pre-AIDS days. Important historical perspective. -----Original Message----- From: Fauci, Anthony (NIH/NIAID) [E] Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2013 6:19 PM To: Grady, Christine (NIH/CC/BEP) [E]; Jenny Fauci (jennyfauci@gmail.com); Alison Fauci (ali.fauci@gmail.com); Megan Fauci (megan.fauci@gmail.com); Denise Scorce Subject: FW: Personal from Folks: They call it "of childhood" because patients never lived beyond childhood. I first started taking care of her at NIH when she was 6 years old. These patients die of fungal and other infections. I kept her alive for several years until she had had so many liver abscesses that when she was 12 years old, she had another liver abscess with Aspergillus, a deadly fungus. The surgeons refused to drain it because they said that the surgery would kill her and they did not want to have someone die in the operating room. I wanted to keep her alive in hope that we could some day find a therapeutic approach that might save her. I told the surgeons that she definitely would die if they did not operate on her and that this tradition that "no one should die in the operating room" was frankly "b--s--t". They still would not operate. I kept pushing and pushing them until they reluctantly complied. She survived the operation and then a couple of years later, treatment (gamma interferon) was found (by John Gallin) to prevent her infections. Several years later she "grew out" of her disease and now she does not require any therapy. She has 3 children, one boy and 2 girls. She named the boy Anthony, after me. Life is good. Dad/Tony/Anthony -----Original Message----- From: cdean002@cfl.rr.com [mailto:cdean002@cfl.rr.com] Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2013 2:59 PM To: Fauci, Anthony (NIH/NIAID) [E] Subject: Personal from Carla Heeke-Dean Just a note to say, Hi. I reached a milestone today that some thought I would never reach. Today is my 50th birthday, not bad for my parents being told I wouldn’t live to 18? I want to thank you for all the times you have stood up for me even when others didn’t believe I would survive. Thank you for all the long hours and every time you went beyond the call of duty. I truly love my life with my family and friends, and know I wouldn’t have it without you. Enjoy this day, because I am! All I have for you is admiration and thanks. Love, Carla Heeke-Dean