Young hero fights for his life

>>>In our day when the culture of death surrounds us we are reminded of the beauty of life and those who fight courageously to live!

13 year-old Meisler student fights rare blood disorder
Reported by: Sabrina Wilson, Reporter

(FOX 8 News) New Orleans - He is only 13 years-old and was absolutely thrilled to be playing football for Meisler Middle School up until recently.

But now Shakobe Peters is in the hospital fighting a very rare blood disorder that not only sidelined his game, but is threatening his life.

In an exclusive interview with FOX 8 News, Shakobe's mother, Tomika Durio, and the teen's doctor shared his plight.

''It's very difficult, I have my moments, I have more bad days than good days I mean I want to fix it, but I can't you know he looks at me like mom, fix it, let's go to the drug store, get something, go home, it's not happening," said Durio.

Shakobe was in intensive care at Children's Hospital in New Orleans until Wednesday evening.
"It's been a roller coaster, it's very difficult, I had never heard of it before," said his mother.

The disease with a long name is complex. "It's Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Histiocytosis is a family diseases that are actually very rare," said Shakobe's doctor, Maria Velez, a hematologist-oncologist at Children's Hospital.

"Unfortunately it's a serious disease and it could be lethal or produce death, if its not well controlled," said Dr. Velez.

The disease called "HLH" for short, paralyzed Shakobe's immune system, making him a prey for serious infections and shutting off his body's ability to produce life sustaining red blood cells and platelets.

"Since his bone marrow has not recovered and has not been producing the red cells and platelets then he has been dependent on blood transfusions."

Dr. Velez said "HLH" can be inherited or a serious infection or T-cell lymphomas can trigger it. What she knows for sure is that Shakobe did not inherit it.

"We feel it might be something abnormal in your immune system that doesn't allow the marrow cells to survive well, but most of the time we, we cannot tell what is producing this phenomenon," stated Velez.

While Shakobe does not have cancer, chemotherapy is part of his treatment.

"What we are trying to do is just his abnormal cells, trying to re-program them," his doctor stated.

"Perfectly healthy, never sick, it just happened all of a sudden," said his mother. His diagnosis came in December and his doctors concede nailing down the disease is often difficult. It took a second round of testing to confirm Shakobe had "HLH."

Before the diagnosis Shakobe was enjoying his first year as a football player at his school. "It took us back, definitely took us back," said Meisler Coach Chuck Harrison.

He said as a receiver and corner back for the team Shakobe was full of energy. "It caught me by surprise. He's a good kid and he was in my P.E. class and he played football for me."

Shakobe also played ball at Johnny Bright's Playground right across the street from the school. The coach was at the hospital with Shakobe's family on Wednesday.

"Shakobe besides being a wonderful athlete is just a wonderful young man, ah he's just been outstanding since we had him at bright, the last game he played in he actually scored a big first down when we needed about 20 yards."

Without a constant supply of healthy blood, Shakobe's chances of getting to a possible bone marrow or stem transplant diminish greatly.

"The plan is just to identify potential bone marrow or stem cell donors for him to undergo stem cell transplant and at that point then his chances of surviving the disease will improve dramatically," said Dr. Velez.

"He has about a 66 percent chance of finding a match because he is African- American, so we definitely need minorities to join the registry," said Natalie Rowe, of the bone marrow registry, "Be the Match."

"To date he's had about 40 blood transfusions that I know of," stated Amanda Chittenden of the Blood Center of Southeast Louisiana. She said a blood and bone marrow drive will be held on March 5th at Calvary Baptist Church at 939 South Sibley Street from 9am to 2pm.

"Without the blood supply which is a critical part of his treatment then Shakobe possibly won't make it as long as he has," stated Chittenden.

With tears streaming down her face, his mother exhibited the weight of having a child so ill.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm just in my own little world, alone, it's hard."

And although she was surrounded by family and friends at the hospital, the pain of a suffering child was palpable.

"I try to be strong for him, but , it's hard and you wonder why, he's not a bad kid," said Tomika Durio.

Now she hopes the public will give of themselves to save her son.

To donate blood, you must be in good health, at least 17 years old and weigh a minimum of 110 pounds. Additionally, the Blood Center says 16 years old can donate if they weigh at least 130 pounds and present a signed "Blood Center" parental consent form at the time of donation.

A picture ID is required to donate blood. More information can be found on blood donations at the Blood Center's website, thebloodcenter.org