Let’s extend the kudos to research nurse Marsha Zimmerman and other Health Science Center personnel with the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System-Audie Murphy Division. They recently welcomed 9-year-old Morgan Burroughs of Houma, La., for treatment of Pompe Disease, a juvenile-onset enzyme deficiency that results in debilitating muscle weakness.
Through the help of Genzyme Corp., the Burroughs family identified the GCRC as an alternative treatment site for Morgan in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At the GCRC, Morgan received two infusions of the Genzyme drug Myozyme®.
The GCRC is the site of an ongoing enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) research protocol for a patient from San Antonio, Tiffany House, who was diagnosed with Pompe Disease as an adolescent. Zimmerman, who works with this study, was contacted and she began the first of many conversations to find a way to assist the Burroughs family.
Tiffany and her family opened their home to Morgan and her mother, Deirdre.
Morgan’s muscle strength has improved threefold and she has gained 20 pounds while receiving twice-monthly infusions of ERT. From her motorized wheelchair, Morgan can do many of the things that all children do.
The Burroughs have returned to Louisiana and resumed the ERT treatments there. The GCRC, Health Science Center and Audie Murphy provided a badly needed lift for Morgan during the uncertain times brought by Katrina.
