Boy's Potentially Life-Saving Surgery Slated for Next Month

Contract for Seth Petreikis' care, initially delayed, now signed and approved

The potentially life-saving surgery for a 6-month-old Indiana boy is back on track and slated for early next month.

Paperwork that was supposed to have been sent from a managed care organization to Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina had been delayed and postponed the surgery that young Seth Petreikis needs.

But that contract has finally been signed and approved, meaning that young Seth is "next in line" for the thymus tissue transplant he needs. 

"It's been like a big roller coaster, just waiting for something to happen," the boy's mother, Becky Petreikis, said Tuesday.

Her son was diagnosed with DiGeorge Syndrome shortly after he was born.  The rare and fatal condition inhibits the body's immune system and only one doctor in the United States performs the surgery that could save his life.

That doctor, Becky Petreikis explained, only takes one patient at a time, which made the delay earlier this month especially frustrating and frightening for the family.

"The hope that he could get his surgery and lead a normal life; that's what keeps us moving from day to day.  It's hope," added the boy's father, Tim Petreikis.

Seth Petreikis is currently in the hospital on antibiotics and breathing with the use of a tube because of a suspected lung infection.  He was having difficulty breathing on Monday but is doing better, his family said.

MDWise stepped into the picture shortly before Christmas after the family's insurance company denied the surgeries, deeming them "experimental."

Full Coverage: Seth Petreikis
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