Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

It was bad enough that Jean McCrawley’s infant daughter Julie was diagnosed with epilepsy, but two weeks after she was prescribed phenobarbatol to treat her seizures, she woke up with a swollen eyes and a high fever. Jean took her daughter to the doctor who discovered blisters forming on the little girl’s shoulders and mouth. He diagnosed her with chicken pox.

But the blisters got worse. They spread down her throat and little Julie was unable to drink her bottle because of the pain. Jean rushed her daughter to the hospital, where doctors continued to administered the phenobarbatol for her seizures. But Julie’s health continued to decline. Four days later the little girl’s lungs collapsed and her skin began coming off in sheets. That’s when a nurse realized what was going on. “This is Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS),” she said. Jean was relieved to have a diagnosis, but the doctor said, “This is extremely serious. She could die.”

Jean shared her story earlier this year to Voice America’s Disability Matters radio show with host Joyce A. Bender. Jean appeared on the show with SJS survivor Elizabeth Boxer and her father Mark.

When Jean’s daughter was diagnosed with SJS, she was told the adverse reaction to medication such as anti-seizure medication, ibuprofens and antibiotics was so rare that she would probably never hear of it again. But Jean refused to believe that the illness that threatened her daughter’s life and left her blind in one eye and visually impaired in the other – a condition caused by common medications – was as rare as doctors described. She made it her mission to found a community where others touched by SJS could share their stories. Thus, the Stevens Johnson Syndrome Foundation was established.

Shortly after founding the organization, Jean discovered that several people were suffering from the disease. Many, like Jean, were looking for answers as to how medicine designed to help can actually cause more harm.

“This is wrong,” announced Jean on the radio program, where she took questions from listeners. “(SJS) is not rare. What’s rare is having it reported to the FDA.”

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