May 31, 2006
Anna’s Angels: Giving Wings to Down Syndrome Research
When Anna Merrills was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at the age of 16 months, her family was told that having Down syndrome much improved Anna’s prospects for recovery. While children with Down syndrome have a greater risk of developing AML, they also respond to treatment better than other children with AML, and their survival rates are as high as 85 percent, compared with 50 to 55 percent for other children. No one knows why.