Calgary doctor saves little boy from ‘silent time bomb’

WATCH: A simple surgery almost cost one 4-year-old his life, but thanks to a life saving diagnosis little Ben is still with us today. Heather Yourex has the story.

CALGARY – Ben Anderson is a big fan of Spiderman, and according to his parents, the four-year-old also has a lot in common with the superhero he admires.

“He’s really brave and strong. That’s what we’ve really seen, especially through this whole ordeal,” said Shannon Anderson, Ben’s mom.

In March, Ben went to the Alberta Children’s Hospital for routine, elective surgery. It wasn’t serious, and Ben appeared to be his usual, energetic self. But during a pre-operative test, a nurse discovered something was wrong.

“She picked up that (his) blood pressure was very high so she did the test again and again, and it was higher than any adult blood pressure should be,” said Dr. Susanne Benseler, a pediatric rheumatologist with the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

Ben was admitted to ICU and after running a series of tests, Dr. Benseler made a life-saving diagnosis. Although Ben had felt fine, it turned out he was seriously ill, suffering from a rare form of pediatric vasculitis called Takayasu’s arteritis. Ben’s arteries were so inflamed that very little blood was reaching his kidneys. According to Dr. Benseler, the discovery was made just in time – Ben could be treated without suffering any permanent damage.

“A few weeks down the road, the diametre of his blood vessels would have been zero and he would have no blood supply to his kidneys. His kidneys would have failed and he would have been a dialysis patient today.”

Vasculitis is rare. Benseler estimates it only impacts 20 out of one million children, but for approximately 15 of those children, the diagnosis comes too late.

“I would think that about three-quarters of the time, we would have the diagnosis at a time when there’s already damage to the vascular wall and the kidneys and all of the other organs. That was the reason for us to say, we have to do better.”

Benseler is now working with researchers around the world to find a better way to detect the disease, looking for biomarkers in patients like Ben in the hopes of developing a blood test.

Ben’s parents say they’re happy to be involved in the research. They know how narrowly their little superhero was able to escape a very scary fate.

“We would have never known anything was wrong,” said Ben’s Dad, Tyler. “Until something was really, really wrong, and then it’s almost too late.”