Not Settling for the Status Quo
Getting a diagnosis of asthma for a child who is just two years old is hard. Watching him struggle to breathe after 30 seconds of physical activity, even with asthma medicine, is gut-wrenching.
“Your son has asthma. He’s going to have breathing problems – that’s just how it is,” a doctor told Dov Kops’ parents. Residing in New Jersey, the couple had taken their son up to a doctor in New York hoping for an answer.
His parents worried that Dov would never be able to have a normal life. In addition to asthma, Dov had recurring coughs and infections that would last up to a year. Doctors explained them away as “something kids just get.”
“We couldn’t believe that this was the life our child was going to have — difficulty breathing and frequent, lingering colds or infections. There had to be something that could help Dov live better with his asthma,” explained his father, Yechiel Kops.
Dov’s parents talked with an extended family member who had been exposed years ago to chemicals at work and was successfully treated at National Jewish Health. “He believes that without that hospital, his quality of life would be significantly different — he would need to live in isolation and be unable to live a normal social life,” said Kops. “So we made an appointment.”
Dov and his parents traveled to Denver where Dov saw Ronina Covar, MD, associate co-director of the Cohen Family Asthma Institute, in the Pediatric Day Program. This unique program combines comprehensive personalized diagnostic testing and a multidisciplinary outpatient approach for challenging diseases. The Day Program team diagnosed Dov with severe asthma, floppy airways and mucus buildup. He has responded wonderfully to prescribed treatment.
Twice a day, he wears a special vest that vibrates against the chest wall to help loosen and thin the mucus buildup and move it to larger airways where it can be coughed out. This helps prevent respiratory infections and improves lung function.
Dr. Covar determined that Dov has a certain type of asthma that responds well to a biologic medicine, in addition to his inhaled controller medicines. “His lungs are now functioning quite well. He is sleeping better and not waking up coughing or missing school. In the past, it would take Dov a long time to recover from a cold, but that is no longer the case,” said Dr. Covar.
“Our gratitude is boundless,” shared Kops. “Our son has gone from completely unable to participate in any sort of physical activity to being completely indistinguishable from his asthma-free peers. We feel fortunate to have found National Jewish Health and doctors who don’t believe in the status quo.”