Primary Children's Medical Center

Right now, KSL news radio is doing a radiothon for Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Usually, I find some excuse not to donate to these kinds of things (we're poor, we're still in the college stage, my teensy donation really wouldn't be worth it, yadda yadda), but this one is one that I 100% support. Yesterday, I called and donated the small amount I was able to donate and I'm telling you there's nothing better I could have done with that money. On the risk of getting too personal, I'd like to tell you about my family's experience with Primary Children's.

 

In the summer of 2001, Ryan got sick. He complained of stomach pains and diarrhea. Well, this is fairly normal, right? For a few days, yes. For weeks and months, no. We all wondered what the heck was going on as we took him to our pediatrician in IF and had him tested, medicated, tested again, medicated again, and so forth, with no solution. By process of elimination, it wasn't a virus, it wasn't giardia, it wasn't a parasite, and it wasn't anything else we thought of. All this time, Ryan is having severe stomach cramps and diarrhea, which is causing him to lose weight rapidly. He looked like a starving child the way his cheeks were sunk in. Poor kid was in 8th grade and trying to do school and football while dealing with this extreme pain, discomfort, and constant emptying of bowels. Finally, after all our other options had seemed to run out, the doctor sent Ryan and my mom to Primary Children's. There, Ryan was tested for more serious conditions, including Crohn's and celiac disease. The results came back stating that Ryan had something called Ulcerative Colitis, something even my mom, a registered nurse, had no idea existed. But at least we had a cause.

According to http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/colitis/:

Ulcerative colitis is a disease that causes inflammation and sores, called ulcers, in the lining of the rectum and colon. Ulcers form where inflammation has killed the cells that usually line the colon, then bleed and produce pus. Inflammation in the colon also causes the colon to empty frequently, causing diarrhea. When the inflammation occurs in the rectum and lower part of the colon it is called ulcerative proctitis. If the entire colon is affected it is called pancolitis. If only the left side of the colon is affected it is called limited or distal colitis. Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the general name for diseases that cause inflammation in the small intestine and colon. It can be difficult to diagnose because its symptoms are similar to other intestinal disorders and to another type of IBD called Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s disease differs because it causes inflammation deeper within the intestinal wall and can occur in other parts of the digestive system including the small intestine, mouth, esophagus, and stomach. Ulcerative colitis can occur in people of any age, but it usually starts between the ages of 15 and 30, and less frequently between 50 and 70 years of age. It affects men and women equally and appears to run in families, with reports of up to 20 percent of people with ulcerative colitis having a family member or relative with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. A higher incidence of ulcerative colitis is seen in Whites and people of Jewish descent.

Some solution. What the heck does that all mean? How do you treat it? What do we do? Can he live a normal life? Is surgery required? Will he ever get better? The questions seemed to go on and on. Almost immediately, Ryan was subjected to a myriad of medications which took a bit of time to build up in his system. One medication gave him terrible gas, another (which is also given to cancer patients) caused him to gain weight and go from stick skinny to chunky monkey within about a month. He was taking upwards of 17 pills a day, waiting for them to take effect, but still having diarrhea and stomach pains. (Did I mention that he had this for 22 weeks before correctly being diagnosed, and then it kept up as the meds tried to do their jobs.) Every month to six weeks, Mom and Ryan would trek down to Salt Lake, a tedious 3 hour drive each direction, so he could go through so many tests and medication adjustments. It was miserable, but it was somewhere to go and somewhere that could help. Primary Children's was the only location with a doctor who worked with pediatric cases of UC.

Ryan changed a lot during this time. He was frequently tired and in pain, and some nights it was all so much that he would cry himself to sleep. But something happened to him. He felt that God came into his life more and more and helped him get through the pain and the suffering. And then there was the trips to Primary Children's. Every time he went, he was surrounded by kids younger than him with cancer, burns, missing limbs, brain damage, and a plethora of other problems that made his bowels seem to sing sweet music in comparison. As he continued his journey to healing, he asked one of his doctors if there was anything he could do for these children. The doctor suggested a project that Ryan ended up doing for his Eagle Scout project. He made marker blocks for kids who were stuck there and who needed some kind of diversion. He was so glad to be able to do something for these kids who were truly suffering and who could use something as simple as a block with markers glued into it.

Long story short, Ryan's UC is currently in submission. He has had one or two minor flares, but as of now, he is 100% off his UC meds. He never had a problem on his mission, and even though he was medicated by growth stunting hormones during his initial treatment, he has grown into a very tall 6'2". He is finishing up his Associates at BYU-Idaho and will probably attend USU next year with a full ride scholarship. While he's unsure as of now what he wants to do (it's between law and medicine), the pull for medicine calls him because he knows what it's like to need help and knows what it's like to finally have caring medical professionals around you.

 Ryan and Dan goofing off at BYU-I

Had Primary Children's not been available to us, who knows what would have happened to Ryan? What other tricks would have been tried by someone who didn't really understand his disease but was trying to make him better? My brother is who he is, both physically and emotionally, to a great degree because of what was available to him at Primary Children's Medical Center.

So, as I'm thinking how grateful I am for Primary Children's and as I ponder how glad I am that I could give my small donation and wish it could have been more, I will make a plug: please, if you can, donate to the hospital. 100% of their donations go to pay for medical care for kids who otherwise wouldn't get the care because they couldn't afford it. Even a small donation, when added up with other small donations, can make a big difference. If you can, this is a cause that I cannot champion enough, and it could use your support. If not for Ryan, then for a child you know who has had to be there. Chances are, if you live in the northwestern states, you know someone who has been touched by the angels who work there.