When her son was diagnosed with mucormycosis, Suzi Yaeger did what many people would do and typed the unfamiliar word into an Internet search engine.
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Daniel Yaeger, 16, is recovering from a potentially fatal lung disease, called mucormycosis, which is caused by exposure to mold.
caringbridge.org
Phrases including “high mortality rate,” “poor prognosis” and “often fatal” jumped off the computer screen.
Daniel Yaeger, 16, had contracted the very rare fungal infection from mold in the closet of a home the family leased until September, doctors found. He has been hospitalized since Oct. 28, hoping that doctors can get him well enough to perform an operation to remove his right lung, his mother said.
The infection is caused by fungi that gain access to the mucous membranes of the patient’s nose or lungs, rapidly multiply and invade nearby blood vessels. The fungi destroy soft tissue and bone, as well as the walls of blood vessels.
“It’s so rare that the doctors were in shock that he had it,” Suzi Yaeger said.
The doctors told the Yaegers that while the infection is rare, they have seen one other case in the last six months. Because the infection eats at tissue, a young girl had to have much of her face removed and is now blind, doctors told Yaeger.
Daniel’s mother and father, David, sister Claudia Ann, 19, and brother Matthew, 22, have been spending their days at UAB Medical Center, where he ended up after spending days at DCH Regional Medical Center and Children’s Hospital in Birmingham.
The American Christian Academy sophomore was originally diagnosed with pneumonia, after he had caught bronchitis from his mother who is a paraeducator for Special Education classes at Taylorville Primary School.
Antibiotics were only making him feel worse, so he was admitted to DCH on Oct. 28.
The family had paid a down payment for a home in Taylorville and was leasing from the owners until September. There were so many problems with the house, including leaks that they decided to find a home elsewhere. It wasn’t until they moved out that Suzi Yaeger noticed that a lot of her son’s T-shirts were covered in mold and that he had likely been wearing clothes exposed to the mold for months.
Daniel has diabetes and a weaker immune system than
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