Hey guys,
I came across this forum and was stunned by the depth of knowledge on every pool-related topic that this forum offers. So I thought maybe you guys can help me out. My daughter was born with a non-working liver and at the age of 5 months she got a piece of my liver transplanted into her little body (you can read our story here: When a father gives the gift of life). She is doing great now, will soon celebrate her third birthday. She is very active and wants to do all the things her older sister is doing and that includes swimming in a pool. Problem is -- in order to keep her liver working and prevent rejection, her immune system is pretty heavily suppressed. The use of regular pools that are being disinfected with chlorine only is out of the question because of risk of parasites (e.g. cryptosporidium) that are not killed by chlorine, but are commonly found in pool water -- immunosuppressed individuals cannot get rid of these parasites once they contract them. Some literature suggests that UV systems are effective in killing these parasites, but as I understand public pools with UV systems are hard to come by.
As I understand a lot of folks from the pool installation and maintenance business hang out on this forum, so I figured I'd ask: do you guys know of any pools in the Boston, MA area that are equipped with UV sanitation? Ideally it would be a pool that is not very crowded, frequently and thoroughly tested and uses modern equipment. Even if this pool is not totally public (e.g. belongs to a hotel or a health club) that will be good to know too -- worst come to worst I can rent a room or get a membership there if that's what it takes to gain access.
If you have any other thoughts on the subject I'd appreciate them. We are really trying to give her as much of a normal life as we can given the endless limitations of immunosuppression and we feel that having access to a safe pool will bring her a ton of joy.
Thanks in advance!
Daniel
I came across this forum and was stunned by the depth of knowledge on every pool-related topic that this forum offers. So I thought maybe you guys can help me out. My daughter was born with a non-working liver and at the age of 5 months she got a piece of my liver transplanted into her little body (you can read our story here: When a father gives the gift of life). She is doing great now, will soon celebrate her third birthday. She is very active and wants to do all the things her older sister is doing and that includes swimming in a pool. Problem is -- in order to keep her liver working and prevent rejection, her immune system is pretty heavily suppressed. The use of regular pools that are being disinfected with chlorine only is out of the question because of risk of parasites (e.g. cryptosporidium) that are not killed by chlorine, but are commonly found in pool water -- immunosuppressed individuals cannot get rid of these parasites once they contract them. Some literature suggests that UV systems are effective in killing these parasites, but as I understand public pools with UV systems are hard to come by.
As I understand a lot of folks from the pool installation and maintenance business hang out on this forum, so I figured I'd ask: do you guys know of any pools in the Boston, MA area that are equipped with UV sanitation? Ideally it would be a pool that is not very crowded, frequently and thoroughly tested and uses modern equipment. Even if this pool is not totally public (e.g. belongs to a hotel or a health club) that will be good to know too -- worst come to worst I can rent a room or get a membership there if that's what it takes to gain access.
If you have any other thoughts on the subject I'd appreciate them. We are really trying to give her as much of a normal life as we can given the endless limitations of immunosuppression and we feel that having access to a safe pool will bring her a ton of joy.
Thanks in advance!
Daniel