Sunday, January 04, 2009 THE LITTRELL FAMILY: Larry King Live Transcript - January 02, 2009Current mood:
blessed
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
And one of the Backstreet Boys is here, too. His son has Kawasaki Syndrome. We'll talk to Brian Littrell and his family right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: The tragedy of the death of John Travolta's son.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta remains with us in Atlanta.
Also, in Atlanta now is Brian and Leighanne Littrell, along with their son, Baylee. Brian is one of the Backstreet Boys. And they recently found out that 6-year-old Baylee has Kawasaki disease.
How did you find it out, Brian?
BRIAN LITTRELL, MEMBER BACKSTREET BOYS, SON HAS KAWASAKI SYNDROME: Well, we — we started with swollen lymph nodes. We went to the doctor. It was strep throat. And then we started some antibiotics. And as the doctor was referring to earlier, everything escalated. And we found out a week before Christmas that he was diagnosed with atypical Kawasaki's disease.
So they were about to let us go. The scary thing, they were about to let us go from the hospital. And the infectious disease doctor came in and said everything looks great. They thought it was a disease called Erythema multiformae, which is a Herpes virus. They were about to let us go from the hospital.
And we asked for an echocardiogram. And they found his coronary artery was a 3.3 on the scale for his size. And that's extremely large.
KING: Yes…
B. LITTRELL: At a one, it's the biggest so.
KING: So, what, Leighanne, is the treatment?
LEIGHANNE LITTRELL, SON HAS KAWASAKI SYNDROME: They do an IVIG through the I.V. And it takes 12 hours. So you can have a reaction to it during (INAUDIBLE). You can have a reaction to it during, but Baylee, again, didn't have a reaction during. He had it after.
So everything he did was atypical.
And what — I want to just stress to every mom and every parent and to everybody, that trust your instincts because, like Brian said, they were going to send us home twice. And our symptoms didn't follow any of the symptoms that you read anywhere.
KING: Does this tragedy today, Brian, give you some pause?
B. LITTRELL: It does. I mean our thoughts and our prayers go out to the Travolta family. It's a tragedy. I mean any parent all over the world that watches, you know, the entertainment shows and finds out the news that's happening, it is tragic. And our thoughts and prayers go out to them.
But we're also, you know, a miracle in the making right here, with being able to find what it was and to be able to address the situation. We went to the cardiologist the day after Christmas and his coronary artery is starting to shrink down back to size. And we're very fortunate. And thanks for all the prayers and all the fans out there that support us.
KING: Dr. Sanjay, he doesn't appear any the worse for it, young Baylee.
GUPTA: Yes. He looks pretty good. He's making a lot of cute faces at the camera there, I see, as well.
You know, that's pretty typical. Once you — once you sort of suppress the immune system — the immune system's sort of in overdrive, Larry. And that's what's causing all the problems. It's causing the inflammation in the blood vessels. Brian was describing that coronary artery, which is the artery on top of the heart that supplies the heart.
That starts to get big. And it's just the inflammation. You the medication to suppress the inflammation and the artery starts to come back down to size.
He's going to need to be monitored to make sure this doesn't come back again. But as you point out, he looks pretty good right now.
B. LITTRELL: He does.
KING: Would it be doubtful, Sanjay, if Jett — if John Travolta's son died of this disease at age 16?
GUPTA: I think so, Larry. It's one of those things where, you know, you can only go by the data. And I certainly have never met Jett and never examined him.
But it's very unusual for someone to have these symptoms after the age of eight or so. And also, the — you know, the heart problems. If there's a problem that causes death, there's a lethal issue, it's usually related to the heart, not so much to the brain, as we're hearing from John Travolta's lawyers and some of the other reporters down there.
So it doesn't all seem to fit together as being related to Kawasaki disease.
KING: Leighanne, is Baylee always this up?
L. LITTRELL: Always. Always. Even more so. You hit him at a calm moment.
KING: Baylee, how are you feeling?
BAYLEE LITTRELL: Good.
KING: Good?
How old are you Baylee?
B. LITTRELL: Six.
KING: So you're in first grade?
Are you in first grade?
L. LITTRELL: Not yet. Say I'm pre — I'm still preschool.
B. LITTRELL: I'm still…
L. LITTRELL: He had a late birthday.
B. LITTRELL: Kindergarten.
B. LITTRELL: Yes, kindergarten.
L. LITTRELL: I'm sorry. Kindergarten.
KING: Yes, kindergarten.
He shows no ill effects, Brian.
B. LITTRELL: No, he doesn't. He doesn't. He's been a little tired. But again, we're — we're dealing with this about 10 days to two weeks later. We got a great report from the cardiologist. But if you saw him two weeks ago, you would not recognize him. I have pictures on my cell phone that I've showed the family and — and it's pretty scary. It's pretty scary.
KING: Oh, really?
L. LITTRELL: It was six days in the hospital.
KING: Well, I know all of our wishes go out to the Travoltas. And thank you for joining us. Brian and Leighanne Littrell and young Baylee.
L. LITTRELL: Thanks.
B. LITTRELL: Thank you.
KING: And thank you, Dr. Gupta, as always.
GUPTA: Thanks, Larry.
KING: I don't think anybody does it better.
GUPTA: Thank you.
Source: CNN.com
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Mon 5 Jan - 2:23
