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While the operation may afford Pitre a dramatic new lease on life, it also comes with potentially fatal complications.

Eight of the 30 children who have undergone the procedure have died, most of them from infections. But two-thirds of the survivors have experienced life-changing improvements: tougher skin, reduced blistering and better wound healing.

“One of the reasons we’re doing it is to try to prolong my life,” Pitre told the Citizen in an interview this week. “Right now, if we don’t do anything, I may not live to be 20. Maybe 18 even. So my time really is running short…

“Hopefully, my quality of life will improve — that’s the No. 1 thing. We know it’s not a cure.”

Pitre is scheduled to be in Minneapolis on August 22 to begin treatment.

His mother will travel with him and donate blood, bone marrow and skin grafts for the procedure, which could keep them in Minnesota for up to a year.

Boileau first heard about the transplant option five years ago, and has been carefully following its results.

The University of Minnesota’s Masonic Children’s Hospital is the only facility in the world that conducts the procedure, which was first performed on a child in October 2007 after showing promise in lab mice.

“We’ve been waiting for something like this — so it has to have a happy ending,” Boileau said.

The procedure is only performed on children since adults with severe EB are generally too weakened to survive it. Five to six patients a year receive the treatment.