by John Zienkosky

Created on: April 12, 2009

One evening in 1995 after supper my wife commented to me that my son Alex had gotten out of bed that morning with some bruises on his legs and maybe a couple on his torso as well. He also had some scratches on his legs. My son was 1 and a half at the time and we decided this was the result of his kicking at the cat, since him and the cat tended to fight over who would sleep in his bed. We resolved to keep an eye on it but did not worry about it. The next morning before I left she said the bruises were still there and there also was a small amount of blood on his sheets. I asked if he had been fighting with the cat again and she said she did not know. I went to work but still was not worried. Alex was extremely active and prone to running into things at full speed as well as getting into things.

About 1 o'clock that day, my wife called and said Alex was acting very sluggish and what's more he had bruises on the roof of his mouth. I thought maybe this was a bit of over reacting but told her to call the doctor and I would be home in a minute. When I arrived she had a bit of panic in her eyes. We typically went to a clinic for our ailments and so had no regular GP. She had called a Pediatrician's office at random and after describing the symptoms to the nurse was told to get Alex there right now.

We dropped our other 2 children off at some friends and were at the office in less than 20 minutes. The nurse ushered us into the treatment area immediately and the doctor was waiting. I was becoming increasingly alarmed, not only at their behavior but at my son's rapidly increasing sluggishness. He just lay in my arms as though he were exhausted.

The Doctor did a cursory examination and said,"I've seen this before." When I asked what it was he told me it was ITP. He said to get Alex to the hospital ICU immediately and he would meet me there. I asked if Alex was going to be alright and he said, "I hope so." That galvanized me and I was at the NICU in 5 minutes.

We were met there by a team of nurses and doctors and then my doctor arrived. He explained that ITP was Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a rare blood disorder. They did not understand it (hence the name idiopathic) but believed it began when the body contracted a virus such as the flu. This almost always happens in children less than two years of age. When the virus runs its course, the immune system fails to shut off and begins to attack the White platelets in the bloodstream (Thrombocytopenia). This is what

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