Key points from today’s guests:

Adrian Salazar, T-cell lymphoma survivor

• As he was about to finish his freshman year of college, Adrian felt ill and went to urgent care. They sent him home, but his condition worsened.
• He eventually went to the ER and then was rushed to the ICU. His organs were failing.
• He felt like he was dying.
• Adrian was finally stabilized, but was diagnosed with a disease called HLH (hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis) alongside T-cell lymphoma – a stage 4 cancer diagnosis.
• He has recovered and is resuming his education to pursue a career in the medical field to pay it forward and help others the way he was helped by his medical team.

Erika Salazar, Adrian’s mom, caretaker, and stem cell donor

• The first hospital Adrian was at said he was most likely going to need a transplant, so he was transferred here to The University of Kansas Health System and they started the donor process list.
• She joined the stem cell donor list and ended up being a match for Adrian.
• Not only was she a caretaker, she was his stem cell donor. As a caretaker, it was difficult to stay strong in front of Adrian, but other caretakers in the hospital supported each other.
• She said she is blessed to be able to give him life not once, but twice and being a donor is so important to help saving lives.

Dr. Sunil Abhyankar, hematologist and medical oncologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center; director, Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center

• Adrian had an extremely serious condition and it is rare.
• There is no conclusive tests to make the rare diagnosis that unfortunately, quite often gets missed. So the doctors at the referring hospital did a good job recognizing there's something serious going on, and that he needed to be transferred.
• It's actually immune dysregulation that is caused by activated T-cells and a case that is triggered by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
• Mono, which is caused by EBV virus, triggers the immune system. But underlying all that, he had T-cell lymphoma.
• HLH can be sometimes a genetically inherited predisposition in children especially. Sometimes it's acquired and it's usually associated with an immune process. Maybe the T-cells have gone bad, which is what happens when you have T-cell lymphoma.
• SMILE chemotherapy helped Adrian recover as well.
• We have a great team here in transplant and cell therapy -- it's the pathologists who review this, all the nursing staff on the unit, the coordinators, and also having relationships with community health centers who make referrals when it's appropriate to come here. So it all worked in this situation extremely well.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System

• The hospital COVID count for this week is at eight patients, which is a decrease from 12 patients last week.
• An independent review board under the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine issued a new report on the possible harms of the vaccine and found only one possible harmful outcome of the mRNA vaccine – myocarditis.
• The association with myocarditis is well known and it mostly affects adolescent boys or young men, but myocarditis really is a mild condition that does resolve quickly.
• This is one more data point from an independent evaluating committee showing that these vaccines are safe.

Monday, April 22 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Learn about the first-ever test that catches Parkinson's early before symptoms appear, getting patients the chance to start treatment early. Plus, hear how weight loss drugs are being tested as a possible Parkinson's treatment.

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