Multi-organ recipient Matisse Reid is facing a new hurdle – using a drug that has rarely been used in children with a bowel transplant, according to her mother.

Jodee Reid said Matisse's body is still producing antibodies to fight the new small and large bowel she had transplanted Dec. 7 at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

The fourth grader at Eden Hall Upper Elementary has a rare disease, chronic intestinal pseudo obstruction, that has prevented her from digesting food since she was born in 2000 in New Zealand. She and her family moved to Gibsonia four years ago to be close to the hospital.

"Although Matisse's biopsy looked great, meaning the cellular rejection is under control, she is still producing antibodies to fight the new organ," Jodee wrote in her online journal at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/matissereid/journal.

"These are present in both the graft and the blood," Jodee said.

"So, rather than suck the antibodies out of the graft (the transplanted organs), we are trying this new drug (that is) not FDA-approved for this use, but meant to be more effective and gentler than the invasive 'sucking them out', even though only one other child has used it for this purpose."

Matisse had gotten good reports recently after using the drug OKT3 to fight organ rejection. Another anti-rejection drug, Thymoglobulin, did not improve her condition, her mother reported. Jodee did not mention the name of this latest drug.

Now the Reid family is "between a rock and a hard place and have little other option than to trust our team," wrote Jodee. She and Matisse's father, Wayne, have three other children in addition to Matisse -- Rachel, 19, Kalani, 11, and Fraanz, 6.

"Matisse is yet again an experiment.  Over the years most of our options have been to experiment; at times it worked and other (times) it did not," Jodee wrote in her journal. "This treatment will take about 28 days to complete so we sit and wait to see if we are going to win this war of rejection."

Eden Hall Upper Elementary will be the site of a blood drive Jan. 5, in support of Matisse, who has received blood as part of her post-surgery treatment. Details of the blood drive are at http://pine-richland.patch.com/articles/blood-drive-supports-matisse-reid.

Pine-Richland Patch will continue providing updates on Matisse. For previous stories, click on

http://pine-richland.patch.com/articles/e-cards-are-big-hit-for-matisse-reid

http://pine-richland.patch.com/articles/outlook-brightens-for-matisse-reid

 http://pine-richland.patch.com/articles/matisse-reid-battling-organ-rejection

http://pine-richland.patch.com/articles/the-christmas-angel-matisse-reid