Science Center
Special Neuroscience Lecture
"Losing Cal: The Miraculous Story of a Mother and a Neurologist Treating a Child with an Untreatable Disease"
Thurday, October 24th, 4:45 PM, S277
Dr. Maria Kefalas, Wellesley '89 (St. Joseph's University and Co-Founder, The Calliope Joy Foundation)
Dr. Amy Waldman (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Scientific Advisor, The Calliope Joy Foundation)
This will be a presentation shared between Dr. Maria Kefalis, a sociologist and mother of a child with a child with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), and Dr. Amy Waldman, a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). This lecture will touch on the biology of MLD, as well as the sociological and philosophical issues surrounding raising a child with a terminal illness.
MLD is a terminal neurological disease in which children usually do not survive beyond the age of 5. Initially, MLD children develop normally, but the disease reverses every childhood milestone, such as speaking and walking. Children with MLD lack an enzyme in their blood called arylsulfatase A. Without it, the development of the myelin sheath is impaired, and leads to a rapid breakdown in neuronal function.
Dr. Amy Waldman (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Scientific Advisor, The Calliope Joy Foundation)
This will be a presentation shared between Dr. Maria Kefalis, a sociologist and mother of a child with a child with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), and Dr. Amy Waldman, a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). This lecture will touch on the biology of MLD, as well as the sociological and philosophical issues surrounding raising a child with a terminal illness.
MLD is a terminal neurological disease in which children usually do not survive beyond the age of 5. Initially, MLD children develop normally, but the disease reverses every childhood milestone, such as speaking and walking. Children with MLD lack an enzyme in their blood called arylsulfatase A. Without it, the development of the myelin sheath is impaired, and leads to a rapid breakdown in neuronal function.












