BABY GETS FIGHTING CHANCE\Transplant prognosis good.

Byline: Susan Goldsmith Daily News Staff Writer

An Oxnard baby afflicted with a rare and fatal disease was released from UCLA Medical Center on Thursday after undergoing an experimental treatment in which he received cells from another baby's umbilical cord.

The transplant was the first ever done on a child suffering from the autoimmune disorder called X-linked lymphoproliferative, but doctors say they are encouraged by 10-month-old Blayke LaRue's progress.

"We're quite optimistic that in three to six weeks he'll have a functioning immune system," said Dr. E. Richard Steihm, the infant's pediatric immunologist. "I'm much more hopeful now than I was a few weeks ago."

In the five weeks since the transplant, the blond, blue-eyed baby became very ill as his body responded to the new cells, doctors said.

At one point, he had a high fever, a severe rash and intense swelling all over his tiny body. To combat infection and other problems, doctors had him on 17 different drugs.

But Thursday, the child looked healthy and alert as his parents, Scott and Theresa LaRue, talked to reporters during an emotional press conference.

"He's doing really well," Theresa LaRue said, as she held Blayke in her arms and gently rubbed his back. "We've been waiting for this day and we're very thankful."

The couple lost their 13-month-old son, Layne, to the disease last summer and a third son, Garrett, 3, also is afflicted. A search for a suitable bone marrow or umbilical cord donor for Garrett is under way. A fourth son, Aaron, 5, does not have XLP.

The family's moving plight kicked off a bone marrow drive around Southern California.

Law enforcement officers from around Los Angeles participated in the drive after the baby's grandfather, Ron LaRue, a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood Division, pleaded for help.

Meanwhile, Scott LaRue's colleagues at the Alhambra Fire Department have volunteered to work his shifts while his sons undergo their medical treatments.

Because Blayke's medical condition is fragile and he requires intensive medical attention in the next several weeks, the LaRues are renting an apartment in Westwood near the medical center.

The umbilical cord transfusion was the only chance the little boy had as the odds of surviving the extremely rare disorder are grim, doctors said. Only 300 people worldwide have been afflicted with the disease - 80 percent of whom died before the age of 10.

Doctors describe XLP as a vicious disorder that makes its victims unable to fend off a potent form of mononucleosis.

Last month, doctors killed off Blayke's immune system with high doses of chemotherapy and then, during a half-hour procedure, transplanted white blood cells from a newborn's umbilical cord through a tube in Blayke's chest.

The donated umbilical cord blood, which came from the New York Blood Center's Placental Blood Program, is harvested and frozen for future uses. Although a new and growing field in medicine, placental blood transfusions have proved effective in combating leukemia and other cancers.

Placental blood cells grow quickly and if the transplant is effective, the child can replace his fragile immune system within three to six weeks, Steihm said.

If Blayke's system continues to grow the new cells, as it has in the past two weeks, his long-term prognosis is excellent, doctors said.

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(color) Rose Altomare holds her grandson Blayke LaRue as his mother, Theresa, dresses him to leave the hospital. Phil McCarten/Daily News