(upbeat piano music)
>> We had spent about six years kind of wandering
in the desert, looking for somebody to treat me.
And nobody was really willing to take on
the complexity of my case, or take me seriously.
>> Zach is our grandson, he has had a life of discomfort,
pain, etc.
He'd been to like 13 different pediatricians,
three major hospitals and nobody knew what was wrong.
And nobody, most of them didn't really care, to be honest.
And then our daughter took him to university and he saw
a pediatric neurologist there who said the doctor
that you need is Dr. Peter Rowe.
>> So I direct the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome clinic here
at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
We see patients who have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,
or as it's now called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, MECFS.
We were seeing a lot of patients who had
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and made an observation,
really something they had alerted us to, that they
are having trouble with standing still, standing in line,
taking a hot shower and it suggested that they had
problems with their circulation.
So we put together a paper drawing attention to
circulatory problems being a cause of Chronic Fatigue,
and a treatable one at that.
When that paper was published, we got 5,000 inquiries
the next week.
So I really saw that there was a tremendous unmet need
for this population and I've been working on these
problems ever since.
>> I think he's a bit of an unsung hero in the institution.
What he does is totally amazing and not everyone's
willing or able to do what he does.
He's really known here and nationally, internationally
as an expert in these conditions.
And, whenever there's a patient in the hospital or
the outpatient clinic, who someone thinks may have
something like this, they really want to have his expertise.
>> His treatments allowed me to be able to
continue my education,
to be able to go away for school.
Not only do I want to be a doctor and I want to study
and learn from Dr. Rowe so that I can be a doctor like him.
I want to understand the healthcare space so I can
change it and allow doctors to operate like him
and make the impact he's been able to make.
>> I think the care of the patients is really gratifying.
When you can help them get from bedbound and housebound,
to back to school and back to work,
there's nothing better than pediatrics.
>> My husband and I every day, we still feel like we're
in pinch-me mode.
Like it's just so incredible to see the life that
our daughter's able to lead now.
It's just really been something beyond our imagination,
that's for sure.
(upbeat acoustic guitar music)
>> To think people have had a kind of nihilistic view
of this illness where they thought "oh we don't know
the treatment for CFS, so let's not bother too much."
Well, we feel like there are lots of treatments out there
in the rest of medicine that apply to these patients,
lets use them.
I'm hopeful that we can ultimately find one of the
probably many causes of this and have much more
effective therapy.
We think we can get about two-thirds to three-quarters of
the patients significantly better over the course of
a year of treatment.
But, we have 15-25% of the patients who don't improve
and we don't know why, so they remain the big challenge
for the future.
>> My parents are so beyond grateful for what
Dr. Rowe has done for us that we have chosen to contribute
to his research, so that he can continue to find out
more about the conditions that I and other patients
experience and without that research funding,
he would not be able to come-up with new treatments,
new understandings of the disease and really allow
everyone to have a better understanding of the
conditions he's treating.
>> Giving back to Dr. . Rowe seemed like a no-brainer
because he's the person who got me from bedridden,
homebound, to living this life that I live now.
>> And we see the difference in our grandson's life.
It's a why not donate to Dr. . Rowe and you know where
the money is going and it's worthwhile.
>> I really have not seen another clinician that
is as compassionate and as committed and as devoted
to the care of these patients.
Our daughter to this day will tell you that she's
his favorite patient and I think every patient
feels that way, they're convinced (laughs).
>> I don't think anybody could ever compare to the impact
he's made, but would love to do 20% of what he's done.
>> Indefatigable, so much humanity and humility
and humor and hope and compassion,
empathy, and he will just never give up on you.
>> I say to my daughter all the time
"I mean how can he give that much time
to all these patients?"
Because you do feel like you're the only family
dealing with Dr. Rowe, it's just amazing.
>> Part of sharing who he is with the world is
hoping that somebody is going to see who this person is
and want to model and learn from what he does
because it is so unique and it is so special
and in my mind, everybody deserves a Dr. . Rowe.
That's how I feel.