The Little Blue Pill Could Save My Daughter

Could the little blue pill, Sildenafil – known to most as Viagra, help save the life of a young girl with a rare life-threatening lymphatic condition?

The Doctors welcome Annie, whose daughter Elodie suffers from intestinal lymphangiectasia, which makes breaking down food and nutrients extremely difficult. The condition is so rare that most doctors the family has seen have never even heard of it.

To make matters worse, many of the things Elodie needs – her formula that she lives on, a monthly injection and the drug Sildenafil – have been denied by the family’s insurance. Doctors believe the drug, which is widely given to people with non-life-threating conditions, could help slow Elodie’s possibly deadly disease.

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“It’s devastating,” her mother Annie says. “Elodie means everything to us. She’s our whole life… With this disease every day is a new challenge, we’re just fighting and fighting and fighting.”

In order to cope with the unthinkable stress, Annie says she and her husband try to focus on their daughter in the moment.

Watch: Should Expectant Moms Take Viagra?

The Doctors believe it is important that we note the amount of drugs used as “off-label,” meaning they are used to treat conditions other than what they were created for, when we examine Elodie’s case. “With children with rare diseases, this is all we’ve got, these off-label uses,” Annie explains.

In an effort to help Elodie, The Doctors and Jersey Shore Cosmetics donate to help the family get the medications and care their daughter desperately needs. If you would like to donate, visit the family’s website HopeForElodie.com and also sign two of the Change.org petitions to help get Elodie’s medications covered by insurance.

Update: Since The Doctors reached out to Blue Shield California, the insurance company has agreed to cover the medications for Elodie.