Fanconi patients normally are born with a variety of birth defects. Henry was born with an extra thumb and a serious heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot.
Many kids have more severe skeletal abnormalities.
Ninety percent of the Jewish children born with Fanconi's have no thumbs at all. In addition to skeletal problems, many Fanconi babies have kidney problems, trouble with their eyes, developmental retardation and other serious defects. Because of this, the body cannot successfully combat infection, fatigue or spontaneous hemorrhage or bleeding. As expected, Henry has aplastic anemia and is at risk of developing leukemia in the next few years, so it is critical that he have a bone marrow transplant to repair his hematological problems. Henry is being treated and extremely well-cared for by Dr. Al Gillio at the Don Imus Tomorrows Children's Institute for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.