4-year-old boy suffers mysterious strokes as parents search for answers 
 
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 He’s only 4 years old, but Adam Lefkowitz has already had 15 strokes, and his parents are desperate to find out why. He’s confined to a bed in the pediatric ICU at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia — unable to move his legs, open his right eye or go to the bathroom without the aid of a catheter. “Every day it’s getting worse,” said Adam’s dad, Evan Lefkowitz, “and it’s happening pretty rapidly and nobody knows why.” 
 
 Adam, who lives in North Bellmore, has been diagnosed with an extremely rare autoimmune disorder called Central Nervous System Vasculitis. “He’s stuck in a room and wants to go out on my shoulder like he always does. “Frustrating is not even the word,” Adam’s mother, Dina, told the New York Daily News, which first reported the story. “We’re living in hell, really.” 
 
 Central nervous system vasculitis is inflammation of blood vessels in the brain or spine, which occurs most often alongside other autoimmune diseases. Adam’s ordeal began last August when he woke up in the night with severe headaches. His parents took him to see a doctor who dismissed his symptoms as the product of a “simple virus.” 
 
 But when the headaches persisted days later, Adam’s parents sensed he was suffering from something more serious. Dina, not one for ignoring her motherly instincts, brought Adam to a Children’s Hospital on Long Island. Adams mother, Dina, started by taking Adam to the PM pediatrics, and they assured her that it was a simple virus that needed to run its course. Upon further testing Adam was diagnosed with an extremely rare autoimmune disorder called Primary Central Nervous System Vasculitis, otherwise referred to as Primary Angiitis of the Central Nervous System (PACNS). After an MRI was done, they assured Dina that once again, Adam had a virus and the pain would go away, when it didn’t she went back and after further tests were done he was readmitted to the hospital. This one showed inflammation in the outer layers of his brain, prompting doctors to suspect that he had viral meningitis. Again and again they wrongfully diagnosed Adam, until one day Adam began to limp, and lost use of one hand. It’s getting tough on him.” 
 
 Courtesy of the Lefkowitz family Evan and Dina Lefkowitz with their son Adam and daughter Emily on Thanksgiving Day at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Treatment of this disorder is regiment of steroids and chemo, which began about a month ago. Adam has been treated with steroids and chemotherapy, but nothing has worked so far. Due to the rarity and severity of this disease Adam will be transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “They’re throwing the book at him in regards to medication and treatment,” said Evan, who recently started a new job as a relationship manager for Citibank. “They’re piling one on top of the other, and nothing’s helping.” 
 
 Just this week, Adam suffered three more mini-strokes — one in his brain stem and two in his spine. “It’s crazy to say, but we’ve lost count to how many he’s had,” Dina said. “We have to have hope.” 
 
 Doctors are also performing genetic tests on the family, and the parents worry about their 2-year-old daughter, Emily. But the family just wants Adam to be well — and back to his sweet, playful self. “Throughout all this pain and suffering, he is still that sweet little boy.” “We look at infections or malignancies or other systemic disease.” 
 
 When no cause can be found, the disease is known as “primary.” 
 
 “It’s a bear of a diagnosis both in its rarity and difficulty in diagnosis and treatment,” she said. “They think there’s some kind of underlying issue that they’re unable to find and therefore unable to treat.” 
 
 “To be told that his case is so rare that they can’t figure out the underlying cause is unbelievable,” she added. Adam’s father, Evan Lefkowitz, said his son is doing “worse and worse” each day.
– Four months ago, Long Island boy Adam Lefkowitz was a healthy, happy kid who liked to play on monkey bars and climb trees with his friends. More than 15 strokes later, the 4-year-old is barely recognizable to his parents. Diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder called primary central nervous system vasculitis, Adam has not responded to typical treatments, stumping every doc who has looked at his case, reports the New York Daily News. The strokes have left the boy's legs limp and right eye closed, and he uses a catheter to go to the bathroom, while steroids have packed on 25 pounds. "He's fighting and really trying, but it's weighing on him," Adam's father, Evan Lefkowitz, tells Today. "He's stuck in a room and wants to go out on my shoulder like he always does. It's getting tough on him." While Adam battles the mysterious source of his illness in a Philadelphia children's ICU, supporters have set up an online fundraising campaign to help cover what could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical care. As of yesterday, more than half of the $50,000 goal had been reached. (Check out why one family is more than six months into a self-imposed quarantine.)