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Cameron's battle with Crohns

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This page is my way of trying to help ease the financial stress for my best mate Cameron and his wife Rosie. Cam has been suffering from the age of 15 with Crohn's disease. He's classified as a very severe case, which has the best of doctors stumped to find a solution to give him long term relief. From the age of 15 until now, he has struggled through life. He's now 32, been lucky to meet the love of his life in Rosie and they have 2 happy healthy children. Since being diagnosed with Crohn's, he's had countless visits to doctors, specialists and hospitals. This has always had a financial impact on Cam and Rosie's lives, due to Cam not being given the opportunity to get private health insurance due to his condition. He now lives with having a ileostomy bag due to the amount of bowel removed to give him relief. Unfortunately this hasn't given him a lot of relief and still lives day in and day out with pain. This is where it gets tricky and hard for the doctors. After trying so many different things with Cam's food, surgeries, medications(including new trial medications), nothing has really worked and given him long term relief. Unfortunately, this has all taken a toll on Cam's body. This has created other issues to go along with the painful Crohn's. One of these issues that is currently causing more stress on his body is a condition called Avascular Necrosis. This has caused severe problems in his ankles and bottom of his legs. The inner parts of his bones are pretty much wearing away to nothing and are becoming wafer thin. The profile pic is a photo of a scan on his ankles. You can clearly see the the dead parts of the bone showing as the highlighted sections in the talus, bottom of tibia, heel and ball of foot. Possible surgery to fuse his ankles is something their considering, but cost and time of work would make it hard financially for them. Cam is currently pushing his body too far working to help provide for his family. He would love to be able to work 5 or 6 days a week, but normally he's only able to do 2-3 days because of the state of his body. By pushing his body, he risks snapping his ankles and not being able to walk again. His ankles and Crohn's aren't the only thing he struggles with. Here's a list of things he's gone through since being diagnosed with Crohn's:

- 23 surgeries including 3 major removal surgeries
*2ft of small bowel removed-2001
*90% of large bowel removed resulting in an ileostomy bag being attached-2010
*Remainder of large bowel removed and completion proctectomy. Resulting in permanent ileostomy-2015

- Other severe complications
*Pericarditis-2008
*Left leg DVT-2013
*Septic infection in left hip-2013
*Pneumonia-2013

Hospital admissions-42
Emergency admissions-18
Ambulance trips-7
Dehydration iv fluid admissions-38

***3  surgeries needed to reconstruct L & R ankles, 2018 onwards???***

*Crohn's diagnosed 2001 age 16/17 but sick 12-18 months prior to diagnosis
*Left school year 11 semester 1, failure due to no attendance being in and out of hospital

-55 meds per day and 2 self injections per week in stomach or thigh

-Additional conditions
*Chronic pain
*Arthritis
*Malabsorbtion and malnutrition
*Short gut syndrome
*Dehydration/Passing out
*Electrolyte imbalance
*Chronic fatigue
*Fortnight physiotherapy on legs and back

The problem with the malabsorbtion and malnutrition is that his body doesn't absorb the nutrients in his food and fluids like a normal persons body would. So his body struggles to repair itself due to the lack of nutrients.
Cam is an inspiration to me for what he goes through daily and how he keeps pushing on. It's mentally and physically very stressful for him and his family. Any funds donated would go towards helping Cam and Rosie get into a better financial position to start reconstruction surgery on his ankles. Cost of specialists, time off work, travel and other health issues cost enough by themselves let alone the actual cost to start surgery on his ankles. This is how the extra money would help them a lot as time isn't on there side.







Thanks so much for reading and feel free to contact me with any questions regarding Cameron.

Organizer

Jeremy Poulier
Organizer
Coronet Bay VIC

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