Overcoming MS Together: Peyton’s Family-Fueled Recovery

It started with an eye that wouldn’t work right.

Payton Lasley of Hartshorne was 12 years old when his life changed forever. School had let out for the beginning of Christmas break, and Payton’s grandmother Barbara Barcheers had over for their annual "breakfast with Santa" tradition.

“I asked him, ‘Hey, do you want to go to breakfast with Santa this morning?’” Barbara said. “And he said, ‘No, Mimi, I don’t think I’m going to go today. I’m not feeling real good. There’s something wrong with my eye.’”

Barbara initially thought her grandson had simply strained his eyes from playing video games all night. She told him to rest while she went to work at her restaurant. But when she returned home, she found Payton’s condition had worsened.

“I went into his bedroom to check on him, and he said, ‘Mimi, something’s really, really wrong,’” she said. “As he sat up in the bed, I could see his eye was kind of dragging off to the side.”

After waiting through the weekend, Barbara took Payton to an ophthalmologist on Monday. What happened next began a nearly decade-long medical journey that would test the family’s resilience and ultimately showcase the life-saving expertise at Oklahoma Children's Hospital OU Health.

The Search for Answers

The ophthalmologist took images using standard and advanced retinal imaging devices that revealed concerning white spots on Payton’s brain and immediately referred the family to Payton’s pediatrician. After an MRI, the pediatrician delivered shocking news. While the multiple spots on Payton’s brain were visible, they couldn’t determine if it was cancer or something else.

Within 30 to 40 minutes, Barbara and Payton were sent to another hospital. Further testing revealed 11 lesions on Peyton’s brain. The rapid deterioration of his condition was alarming. After the first round of IV antibiotics, he went home with a walker. Just days later, his condition worsened dramatically.

“I called that hospital and said, ‘This is worse than before,’” Barbara said. “(After the next visit), when we left, he was in a wheelchair.”

After another brief stay at home, Payton’s condition deteriorated even more, landing him back in the hospital. This time, when he was discharged, he was bedridden. The once active child was unable to walk, see properly, or function independently.

During a subsequent stay at a rehab facility, Barbara said it became clear that Payton was continuing to decline. That’s when she made a decision that would change everything.

“I said, ‘Please send me to Oklahoma Children’s. Let me get somebody else’s hands on this because this is getting out of control," she said.

The Turning Point at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital

At Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, the scene resembled an episode of the medical drama House, with doctors constantly coming in and out of Peyton’s room. Despite aggressive treatments, including plasma exchanges and IV antibiotics, Payton’s condition remained puzzling and severe.

The breakthrough came unexpectedly. The team looked at something no one had considered: multiple sclerosis (MS).

The suggestion was surprising because MS rarely affects young males. OU Health neurologist Dr. Nidhiben A. Anadani, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, said not many people know MS can affect pediatric patients.

“If you don’t know what you're looking for, you’re not going to see it,” she said.

At OU Health, having a comprehensive system of adult and pediatric providers working together makes such complicated diagnoses possible, meaning Payton’s family finally had an answer.

MS is a disease where the immune system attacks the body by mistake. It affects the central nervous system by damaging myelin, the protective covering around nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. This damage disrupts the signals the nervous system sends to the body. People with MS can have a range of symptoms, including vision problems, muscle weakness, numbness, trouble with balance and movement, and fatigue. MS usually takes one of two forms. Some people have attacks that come and go (relapsing MS). Others get worse slowly over time (progressive MS). While there’s no cure for MS, treatments can help control symptoms and slow the disease from getting worse.

With a potential diagnosis in hand, the medical team adjusted their treatment approach. They began a more careful course of steroids that started with a high dose, and when Payton was ready, gradually reduced the dose. This was different from the earlier plan, which used an intense treatment and then sending Payton home.

Discoveries and Breakthroughs

After confirming the MS diagnosis, Payton also began injection treatment with a medication used primarily to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) three times a week in February 2018. However, despite initial improvements, he continued to have relapses in May and August that year.

In September 2018, the medical team made a groundbreaking decision. They started the teenager on an infusion therapy given once every four weeks. The decision was bold as this medication had never been used on a child at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, as the medication was approved for use in adults.

“He was the first child anywhere in the whole history of medicine to get this adult therapy,” Barbara said with pride. “They didn’t give it to kids.”

The results were transformative. After months of being unable to walk, talk, or see properly, Payton began to improve significantly with the new treatment.

“If you talk to [his] Grandmother, she’ll tell you he had to learn how to walk again, how to see again,” Dr. Anadani said. “He had significant improvement since he got on the infusion therapy.”

Barbara describes the arduous rehabilitation process. Not only did she and his physical therapists teach him to walk and talk all over again, but they also had to teach him how to feed himself as well. For the next six years, Payton remained on the infusions with remarkable stability, until a recent relapse in late 2024 led to switching to a different treatment in January 2025.

Setting a Precedent

Even with these challenges, he continues to move forward with determination.

Payton’s case has had an impact beyond his own recovery. As the first child to receive the adult infusion therapy for MS, he helped establish a precedent for treating other children with this medication.

“If nothing else, I opened the gates for somebody else to get to walk again,” Payton told his grandmother.

Dr. Anadani emphasizes how important early diagnosis is and being willing to try different treatment.

“Early diagnosis is what we did at Oklahoma Children’s,” she said. “They diagnosed him, and they started him on treatment. If they didn’t monitor him, they couldn’t have started him on this infusion, which is again, not even FDA approved [for children], but they used it to kind of save his life.”

A Hospital That Feels Like Family

Throughout Payton’s lengthy hospitalization, the care team became like family to Barbara and Payton.

“Everybody at Oklahoma Children’s was phenomenal. They treated us like family,” Barbara said. “We saw them more than we saw our families.”

Barbara also praises Dr. Anadani, who now manages Payton’s care as an adult patient.

“Dr. Anadani is awesome, too. She is precious,” Barbara said. “Everyone at OU Health cared, from the nurses to the cafeteria staff.”

Life After Diagnosis

Today, at age 20, Payton has graduated from high school and holds a driver’s license. While his immune system is compromised and his stamina limited, he strives to live as normal a life as possible.

“He does his daily functions just like everybody else,” Barbara said. “He tries to do everything everybody else does.”

Payton’s journey from a critically ill 12-year-old to a functioning young adult shows not only his resilience but also the life-changing impact of specialized pediatric care at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Anadani’s message to other families facing similar challenges is one of hope.

“I think it’s having awareness about MS can affect kids. It’s not just a disease of adults, and there are treatment options,” she said. “We here at OU Health have all the services we can provide to MS patients, so do not lose hope. If we diagnose and treat early, we can really make a big impact in their life.”

For Barbara, who spent countless nights praying as snow fell outside the hospital window, uncertain if her grandson would survive, the journey was life-changing.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get to keep my [grandkid] or not,” she said. "Now, neither one of us are complaining.”

Payton’s story shows what's possible at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, where innovative treatments and dedicated medical professionals work together to provide hope, even in the most challenging cases.

Learn more about OU Health's neurology services or call to make an appointment with an MS specialist by calling (405) 271-3635.