CRESTVIEW — A Central American man has a chance to live a healthy life with help from a team of Sacred Heart Health System doctors and a Crestview pediatrician.
Adair Blanco, 21, has experienced complications following surgery four years ago in his native Belize to remove a brain tumor.
Three big openings in Blanco’s cranium allowed regular infections to set in, Dr. Joseph Peter said. His family tried to get further medical help, to no avail.
“Because he did not have financial assistance, the doctors were not able to do any more for him,” Peter said.
With no relief available locally, Blanco’s family approached Peter, of Crestview Pediatrics, during his September 2014 medical mission to Belize.
“He was receiving antibiotics and was put on seizure medicine,” Peter said. “We were very surprised he was still alive.”
Peter, along with colleagues at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola — under pediatric critical care internist Dr. Rex Northup — arranged for Blanco to be brought to Northwest Florida for treatment.
He arrived Wednesday night and received multiple tests Thursday.
“He was in very good spirits,” Peter said. “He was very happy to be in the United States. He said it is his first visit. He gave us a hug.”
Upon evaluation of lab and test results, Northup, pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Matthew Pearson, Peter and other Sacred Heart specialists will determine a course of treatment for Blanco.
“We are hoping to come up with a good plan of care,” Peter said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview doctor coordinates Belize patient's tumor treatment