A Fathers Fight With Crohns Disease

At only 15 years old Antonio was diagnosed with Crohns Disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the lining of the digestive tract.  Crohns Disease is something that can not be cured but treatment may sometimes help relieve symptoms. After being diagnosed Tony endured his first surgery in which almost a foot of his intestine was removed. This gave hopes for a teenage boy to be quickly in remission. Unfortunately, those hopes quickly died as Tony continued on many medications, hospital visits, and severe pain over the years to come. All of this suffering only led to a second surgery in 2015 that would remove more of Antonio's remaining intestine. Once again we found that surgery was just not enough; in the past year Tony continued to suffer with the struggles of this disease. Most recently we were informed that Antonio's Crohns would inevitably continue to cause obstructions where his small and large intestine meet. His immune system became so weak that Antonio had also endured two separate rounds of C-Diff, a severe infection caused by bacteria in the colon.  At this point Tony had only weighed about 103lbs. Crohns had become crippling, making everyday activities practically impossible. It became clear that Antonio could not endure this much longer. On August 28th Antonio was brought into the Emergency Room at Strong Hospital. By 5:30am on August 29th doctors were ready to bring Tony into emergency surgery. The obstruction in his intestine was so severe he was gaining no nutrients, cutting off blood circulation to his bowels, and risking disintegrating the entire bowel upon opening him up. Family and friends grew in fear as they knew Antonio may have been too weak and malnourished to even withstand anesthesia, let alone the complicated and long procedure that was ahead. By God's grace Antonio survived his surgery but was put directly into Intensive Care following his procedure. Antonio proved his strength and fought to get himself out of Intensive Care in the days to follow. After close watching and celebrating breathing on his own, Antontio was moved to the Colorectal Floor. Antonio's surgeon was in shock that he was surviving in such conditions and believed that his life could have easily ended if they had waited any longer without surgery. This surgery removed more of Tony's intestine and bowel leaving him with only 1/3 remaining and a long  road ahead. This last surgery has left Tony staying at home to recover and unable to work. With many medical bills and a family to support Antonio is going to need help along the way. Antonio is not one to ask for help in any situation or bring his struggles to light, but as family we want to ease his stressors so he is able to focus primarily on his recovery. We are asking for your help to lesson the financial stress he may endure while recovering over the next year. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts in advance for any help that you are able to provide and hope that Antonio's story has touched your hearts enough to spread Crohns awareness.