Tot Not Out of Medical Woods, but He Is Home

He still faces years of therapy and his odds at longevity remain about 50%, but Michael Kerr, the Chino Hills child who had a bone marrow transplant amid controversy over insurance coverage, left Children’s Hospital of Orange County for home Friday.

Michael, who is 22 months old, left some of the nurses and staff teary-eyed. Except for a few months, he has lived with them at the hospital in Orange his entire life.

“It’s a big dilemma because you are so happy to see him go home with his mom and dad,” said Renna Killen, the hospital’s bone marrow transplant coordinator. “But Michael has been a big part of everybody’s life here.

“He’s one of the cutest little guys. He’s got this personality where he loves to laugh and smile.”

Michael’s problems began when he was just a few months old and was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancerous tumor in his adrenal gland that quickly spread to his bone marrow.

The cost of his treatments soon exhausted the $1-million lifetime benefits under his parents’ insurance policy. His parents worried last year that they couldn’t get $300,000 needed for a bone marrow transplant, which was his only chance at life.

But donations poured in, and doctors argued with insurance officials, who didn’t want to cover the transplant. Insurers viewed the procedure as risky because the marrow donor would be Michael’s 6-year-old sister, Tiffany.

Finally, in June, a new insurer, CIGNA Healthcare of California, agreed to pay for the procedure. Michael has been making slow but steady progress ever since.

The next two years will be critical for the toddler, said his physician, Dr. Mitchell Cairo. If Michael gets through with no recurrence of cancer, his chances of being a long-term survivor will improve dramatically, Cairo said.

His parents, Raymond and Heidi Kerr, expect the next two years to be trying for them as well, but not nearly as bad as Michael’s first 22 months.

“Hopefully, we can stay home for a little while,” Raymond Kerr said. “The biggest thing is the first few days, knowing we have the routine down. It’s a lot of work. It can be overwhelming.”

Until now, the parents had traded places, going to the hospital to be with Michael and staying home to care for his three sisters, Tiffany, Kristen, 8, and Candice, 4.

“He’s always had either my husband or myself at his bedside,” said Heidi Kerr.

The Kerrs now must adjust to having Michael at home, though they’ll have to drive 40 minutes to Children’s Hospital for checkups once a week. A follow-up procedure will involve a brief hospital stay.

They know they must remain vigilant.

“Things that may be simple, like a fever, you can get by with giving a [healthy] child Tylenol,” Heidi Kerr said. “But with Michael, a fever could be deadly.”

Michael’s sisters were excited about his homecoming.

“They’ve been anticipating and wanting it so long,” Raymond Kerr said. “If Michael’s home, then Mom and Dad are home.”