During mid-June, as David lay in the intensive care unit, no longer able to breathe on his own and too weak to go home, many of the puzzle pieces to David’s illness came together as we again met with the metabolic and mitochondrial disease specialists. Within minutes of arriving in San Diego on June 21, 2001, this highly specialized group reviewed the MRIs of David’s brain and identified four additional areas affected by disease. Immediately we agreed to have David receive an experimental drug to control the high lactate levels in his spinal fluid.
But unfortunately, David’s disease had weakened his immune system. Independent from the experimental drug effects, David caught yet another infection. The infection came on suddenly, and David’s body could not summon the strength to fight it (although his fighting spirit was there to the end). David died on Sunday, July 1, 2001 at the age of three and a half.

The official diagnosis of David’s illness, which, ironically, we received the week before he died, is Leigh’s Syndrome. One of the more deadly mitochondrial diseases, Leigh’s Syndrome can be caused by about a dozen different defects in mitochondrial DNA.
Before David’s illness, we had never heard this word, “mitochondrial.” Most likely you haven’t either. Our mitochondrial are the “energy” for our bodies. And when the mitochondrial cells don’t work right, the body can’t work right. That’s exactly how it was for our little David.
David’s bright red hair, beautiful blue eyes and charismatic personality were a delight to all that met him. And no one ever met a braver little boy.

David’s spirit and charm affected so many people, that in the weeks following his death, more than $20,000 was donated to the team who cared for him. The Metabolic and Mitochondrial Disease Center at the UCSD School of Medicine is one of a handful of highly specialized centers whose team has dedicated their lives to these unknown, underfunded diseases.

It is our hope that through David’s struggles, and the hope and strength he conveyed to all who knew him, we can advance research in this area so that other families will not have to suffer as we did.
Losing a child is indeed one of the hardest things on this earth. That’s why we’ve created the David P. Campbell Foundation for Pediatric Mitochondrial Disease Research. Raising funds for this important cause means that, perhaps, another little three-year-old boy may have a chance.