Last Friday, Dr. Louis Riina of LIPSG and his colleagues at Nassau University Medical Center were honored by one of their patients, 15-year-old Devon O’Rourke. Devon was diagnosed with the rare auto immune illness Stephens-Johnson Syndrome last year. O’Rourke is still in the process of healing, but he is well past the hardest stage and was celebrating his 15th birthday with the doctors who saved his life. He will be heading back to high school in Levittown in the fall.
95% of Devon’s body was affected by this rare disorder which kept him bound to the hospital for more than a month. “You never think . . . that something this bad would happen to you,” O’Rourke said. “Thank you. I’m extremely grateful.”
“Whenever you’re taking a medication, as Devon’s mom did, look out for something that’s coming up as a side effect, in this case it was sores inside his mouth,” said Dr. Riina, partner at LIPSG and Assistant Director of the Burn Unit at NUMC. Dr. Riina spoke to numerous media outlets, including Eyewitness News ABC 7 and CBS 2 New York.
