Melissa Golden
Dillon's Trial
Dillon's Trial. Dillon Papier takes his nightly bath. Dillon, 11, has Niemann–Pick type C, a degenerative, rare and ultimately fatal disease. In spite of this, and despite the physical and developmental setbacks that came with the disease, his parents strive to provide him with a normal childhood that revolves around school, playdates and family outings when Dillon is not in the hospital. He is currently enrolled in a clinical drug trial at the National Institutes of Health, the second such trial this year. The first, involving a special reservoir implanted in his brain, had to be ended when Dillon and other patients developed infections. The new trial involves a lumbar injection of the drug Cyclodextrin.
