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Josh Hardy, Fredericksburg boy who received experimental drug, heading home

Posted at 12:50 PM, Jul 16, 2014
and last updated 2014-07-16 12:50:57-04

Josh Hardy headed home update

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Josh Hardy, the 7-year-old boy whose parents fought to get him an experimental drug, is headed home to Fredericksburg.

Josh’s mother, Aimee Hardy, posted on the SaveJosh Facebook pageWednesday morning that the family is headed home to Virginia after spending six and a half months receiving treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

“Glory to GOD! We are going home!!!! Leaving today. After 6 1/2 months, Josh finally gets to be in his house,” Aimee Hardy wrote.

Hardy said that Josh no longer needs dialysis and that his heart function is within normal range.

“His lung function is perfect. His tummy is coming around. He has not had the need of a blood transfusion in a month,” Aimee Hardy wrote. “And with a lot of hard work his strength will return. He can walk a nice distance holding my hands. And we anticipate the return of his immunity in a few months.”

Josh does not have to return to Memphis until July 29. Hardy said that after that check up, the family should only have to come back to St. Jude for monthly check ups until Josh hits the one year mark in January.

Josh, who contracted a rare virus when his immune system was compromised during a life-saving bone marrow transplant, gained national attention after his family petitioned the North Carolina-based drug maker Chimerix to allow him to be treated with the experimental drug.

Chimerixoriginally said in March the drug could not be released outside of controlled clinical trials. However, once the drug maker reached an agreement with the FDA, Josh became the first patient of an open-label trial of Brincidofovir.

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