Amid the Covid outbreak, Alex began to suffer unexplained pain. child four years I had to take ibuprofen every day to get some relief. But the symptoms did not subside. On the contrary, they went further, until stopped growing. A journey began where doctors, hospitals and tests proved inconclusive. Over three years Alex visited 17 specialists and none of them knew how to diagnose him correctly What illness did he have? Until his mother, Courtney, made a desperate attempt to go to ChatGPT. Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot app told you what no doctor has done: The child suffers from a rare disease called tethered cord syndromeHe will recover after surgery and rehabilitation.
The 17 doctors who visited Alex not only found out what happened to him, but also diagnosed incorrect pathologies. This caused great despair in the family, and the situation was made worse when they saw that the disease prevented the child from playing with his friends and living a normal life. “We saw so many specialists… we even went to the emergency room once. But I kept insisting,” Courtney explains to the American media.
This stubbornness, combined with a huge dose of frustration, included opening an account on ChatGPT. He threw Alex’s medical history in there.. “Line by line. All the symptoms. Everything that happened to her. All the information from the tests. Everything,” the woman says on NBC’s ‘Today’ television show.
“I noted that he couldn’t sit with his hands folded. For me, that was a big trigger that something was wrong and it was serious,” she says. Courtney recalls spending “all night” in front of the computer until the AI platform suggested the doctor’s idea. tethered cord syndrome. “It made perfect sense,” he recalls.
Although the creators of artificial intelligence warn that this technology puts human beings “in danger of extinction”The chatbot developed by OpenAI in 2022 unexpectedly saved Alex: his mother joined a Facebook group of families of children with this pathology. “His stories were like my son’s,” she says.
rare neurological condition
So he arranged a visit brain surgeonafter looking at the images magnetic resonance He knew exactly what had happened to him from the boy. “He clearly told me, ‘Here’s spina bifida, and this is where the spinal cord is fixed,’” said Courtney.
In its place, The other 17 doctors ruled it was cavities, covid, migraines, fatigue, vertigo, sinus problems, airway obstructions, growth and sleep problems. The list of symptoms was very long. Some experts even claimed that he suffered from brain abnormalities and various congenital conditions.
“No one was willing to solve this huge problem,” he adds to ‘Today’ magazine. “Nobody even gave us a clue as to what this might be,” he accuses. Still, the final evaluation allowed the boy to undergo surgery to relieve tension in his spinal cord.
About tethered cord syndrome
Tethered spinal cord syndrome is a rare neurological condition Occurs when spinal cord tissue forms junctions (malformationsIt causes nerve tissue to stretch abnormally, limiting its movement, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. The pathology is closely related to spina bifida occulta. Birth defect in which part of the spinal cord does not fully develop and nerves are exposed.
“It can be difficult to diagnose in young children because they can’t talk,” says Alex’s doctor, Holly Gilmer, a pediatric neurosurgeon at the Michigan Head & Spine Institute in Detroit, Michigan. Moreover, the expert explains: “Many children with this condition have a visible opening on their back.. “But although it was considered a latent case of spina bifida, the type Alex had was closed.”
“Protector of your children”
After years of fights, Courtney expresses her feelings with style. “Feelings of relief, validation, and excitement for their future,” she says. She also makes a plea: “There is no one to connect the dots for you. You have to be an advocate for your children.”