Sanford pediatric immunodeficiency clinic taking unique approach to treating blood disorders

FARGO — A recently established Sanford Health clinic in Fargo is taking a unique approach to treating children with immunodeficiencies by bringing four different experts to the table at once.

One patient of the Sanford clinic is Gianna Osborn, a 17 year old from Minot who was diagnosed with a chronic blood disorder when she was 13.

“We were at Walmart in the parking lot, and I was just looking at my ankles and there was just a bunch of red dots and I was very confused,” Gianna Osborn said.

Her parents took her to a walk-in clinic in Minot after she noticed what initially looked like a rash. They found her blood platelet count was less than 5,000. A normal count can range from 150,000 to 450,000.

After the red dots kept coming back despite treatment, she was diagnosed with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, or ITP.

“ITP, it’s just a condition where your body’s own immune system is attacking your platelets,” said Dr. Christopher Failing, a pediatric rheumatologist and the director of the Sanford Coordinated Treatment Center (CTC) pediatric immunodeficiency clinic.

For years, the Osborn family would travel from Minot to as far as Minneapolis for treatment. But a new option arrived in August of 2022 in the form of the new pediatric immunodeficiency clinic at Sanford Health in Fargo, where once a month four specialists see patients all at once.

“This is an extremely unique clinic, so there’s no other clinic model like this that exists in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, the closest one is Milwaukee Children’s,” Dr. Failing said.

Having a team composed of a pediatric rheumatologist, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, and pediatric immunologist all in the room for patient visits increases communication compared to what would otherwise be four or more separate appointments.

Dr. Failing said it can also lead to faster diagnoses, and help look for other potential complications that can arise from disorders like ITP.

“There’s a higher risk for cancers like lymphoma, so having a hematologist here to always see her is extremely important. These patients are also at risk for lung disease, so just having our allergist here and our team to kind of work on when do we need to get screening done for that,” Dr. Failing said.

For Gianna Osborn’s mother Angie Osborn, having all the experts in the same place at the same time has been comforting.

“The four components really fit her so well. It was great. It was so hopeful that we would get everything kind of figured out,” Angie Osborn said.

As Gianna Osborn looks towards finishing high school and choosing a college, the new clinic has been a game changer as she tries to balance staying healthy and living life to the fullest.

“It’s definitely nice to know that I’m on the right path, and I can always kind of come back to this clinic and I can ask them any questions that I have, and I can get all the answers all at once,” Gianna Osborn said.

The CTC pediatric immunology clinic has also recently joined the North American Immuno-Hematology Clinical Education and Research Consortium (NICER) to network with other experts nationwide.