The Johns Hopkins Gazette: October 23, 2000
October 23, 2000
VOL. 30, NO. 8

  

Unseen '24/7' Footage Is Basis for New Television Specials

Series begins this Sunday on the Discovery Health Channel

Johns Hopkins Gazette Online Edition

Beginning Sunday, Oct. 29, Discovery Health Channel will air a series of 10 one-hour specials created by the producers of ABC's Hopkins 24/7 from original, not-seen-before footage gathered for that critically acclaimed series. Each special will focus on a particular medical issue, following both the patients and the medical professionals involved.

In addition, Discovery Health Channel has announced that it will air the original Hopkins 24/7 series on six consecutive nights in December. The first episode will be shown at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Dec.17.

Here is a look at the first four programs in the new Discovery Health Channel series, which is produced by ABC News Productions.

Oct. 29, 10 p.m. "Quest for a Cure: Jeremy's Story." This is the story of young Jeremy Barber's fight against Rasmussen's encephalitis, a disease that causes him to suffer up to 40 seizures a day. Three days prior to surgery for a hemispherectomy--the physical removal of half of his brain--physicians discuss the possibility of utilizing an experimental drug, Cytoxan, to battle his disease.

Nov. 15, 10 p.m. "Making the Cut." This episode follows the nonstop lives of surgical residents, for whom 60-hour shifts are the norm, as well as established surgeons, including chief of surgery John Cameron. Cameron leads the weekly Morbidity & Morality meeting, where the hospital's surgeons examine the problematic procedures of the week and ways to correct them.

Nov. 24, 10 p.m. "Fighting for Breath." Johns Hopkins has one of the largest populations in the country of patients with cystic fibrosis, a degenerative lung disease that has no cure and ends in death, usually by age 30. A lung transplant is currently the only option to battle against this disease, but the survival rate beyond five years is only 50 percent. This episode follows four patients at different stages of the disease, including one who urgently needs a transplant. In addition, the doctors and scientists at Hopkins use these patients for study in hopes of finding a cure, including gene therapy.

Dec. 17, 10 p.m. "List for Life." For a group of transplant patients at Johns Hopkins, an organ transplant is the only thing that will delay their deaths. This episode takes a look at transplant patients, revealing not only the actual medical procedure but also the painful recovery and the ethical and moral dilemmas these patients often face.


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