Fall 2010 - SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center

1 Year Later
Andre Byrd, Jr., has been small since the moment he was born in April 2009.
Now, 17 months old, his size is the least of his mother’s worries.
“He is just so energetic we can barely keep up with him sometimes,” Sahreese
Byrd says. “For everything he’s been through, you think you would be able to
tell, but you can’t. I mean, he’s small, but everything else is great. He is such a
blessing. He really is.”
Andre was born 15 weeks early and without a heartbeat. He was quickly
resuscitated and transferred from SSM St. Mary’s Health Center to Cardinal
Glennon’s NICU. Neonatologists Michael French, M.D., and Greg Booth, M.D.,
treated Andre for hypotension, Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), sepsis and lung
disease.
Since then, Andre has certainly lived up to how his parents immediately described
him more than a year ago — Andre is a fighter. Not only did he survive, but he
left his NICU bed three weeks before expected, taking only a heart monitor and
1/16 liters of oxygen. He has returned a couple times, once for a week-long stay
in the PICU for an episode that required him to be re-intubated.
Check up with Andre
Check in with the Division of Neonatology
“Compared to how early he was, he actually did really well,” she says. “He didn’t
get any colds this winter, any flu, it has just been the occasional wheezing. He
has come in for some breathing treatments and made lots of friends with the
respiratory staff.”
Andre Byrd, Jr., 17-months, was born at 25 weeks gestation and
without a heart beat. Cardinal Glennon neonatologists successfully
cared for him, sending him home three weeks early.
Within the last year, the Division of Neonatology has also welcomed a new Director. Richard Cooke, M.D., joined Glennon’s
16 neonatologists as Division Director when William Keenan, M.D., stepped down in late 2009. Dr. Cooke says he joined
Cardinal Glennon because of the hospital’s mission to provide compassionate care to everyone. He was also drawn to the
hospital’s academic relationship with Saint Louis University.
Dr. Cooke’s clinical and research interest is in fetal-infant nutrition. He notes that nutrition plays a critical role in determining
outcomes, but that many unanswered questions remain about feeding high-risk infants.
“Research is simply a way of giving the best possible care,” Dr. Cooke says. “We must know how to feed these infants in order
to ensure they have the best possible short-term and long-term results.”
Though he has stepped down as Division Director, Dr. Keenan
continues to serve babies internationally. In June, the Helping
Babies Breathe program officially launched in Washington, D.C.,
and 100 Master Trainers received training. Dr. Keenan played
a critical role in the development of the program, which was a
restructuring of the Neonatal Resuscitation Program that he helped
develop and has trained 2.2 million providers worldwide.
Sahreese Byrd and her son Andre Byrd, Jr., pose with two of their friends from the
Cardinal Glennon NICU. From left: neonatologist Greg Booth, M.D., and hospitalist
Stacey Monaco, M.D.
Also, on Oct. 2, Dr. Keenan received the prestigious Virginia
Apgar Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics at the AAP
National Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco, Calif. He was
recognized as a pioneer in the field of neonatal resuscitation and
as one of the founding members of the Neonatal Resuscitation
Program. In the U.S., the death rate for babies has dropped
an estimated 70 percent since the adoption of the Neonatal
Resuscitation Program in 1987.
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