A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a 20-year-old who is brain damaged after receiving an intravenous injection of a contaminated heparin and saline solution. Kyle Pacheco had already beaten leukemia as a young teenager after receiving a bone marrow transplant in 2006. He had a new lease on life. He and his family were in San Francisco, where he watched his mother complete a marathon as part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. A month later he received the contaminated heparin medication to prevent his body form rejecting the bone marrow transplant. Shortly after, Pacheco developed a high fever and was vomiting post infusion. He was diagnosed with sepsis, a severe infection caused by bacteria in the bloodstream. The infection spread to his brain and he lapsed into a coma that lasted over a month. Today he lies in a hospital bed brain damaged. Kyle’s parents filed suit against Chicago based AM2PAT Inc. the maker of the pre-filled heparin syringes and Maryland based Maxim Healthcare Services Inc. the distributors. The tainted syringes were determined to be contaminated with Serratia marcescens, a dangerous and potentially lethal bacterium. Raw heparin is derived from pig intestines and is often processed by small, unregistered mom-and-pop workshops in China before being shipped for further processing and sale. The drug is used to thin blood and prevent clots during certain types of surgery. Kidney patients typically get heparin before undergoing dialysis as well as patients like Pacheco who are continually on intravenous treatments, so that clots don't form in the IV line. Since December the contaminated heparin has been linked to 149 deaths so far in the United States according to the Food and Drug Administration. Fortunately, all batches of contaminated heparin are believed to have been pulled and the FDA now feels the country’s current supply is safe.