MONTREAL — Lyana Deslauriers was born with eyes a magnetic, ethereal blue, low-set ears and a heart two sizes too large. That thick, dense heart would keep growing and threaten to kill the Joliette, Que., toddler before her Montreal doctors tried something never before attempted — a “Hail Mary” that could turn the world’s most common, incurable rare disease into a treatable one. “Trying a Hail Mary is allowed under those circumstances, frankly.”The treatment began when Lyana was 14 weeks old. They also didn’t want to kill the heart cells, just stop them from multiplying so quickly. Now, after more than 17 months of treatment, Lyana’s heart has gone from a heart triple its normal size “to pretty much a normal heart,” Andelfinger said.

Source: National Post April 30, 2019 06:00 UTC