Gio's Adrenal Insufficiency Fund
Donation protected
Having a child should be one of the best moments in your life. The joys of being a first time parent had us so excited and anxious that we could hardly stand it. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the excitement and pure happiness of being a parent was stolen. Fear, confusion and panic quickly took its place. Our precious son was now fighting for his life from a condition that we knew nothing about. To make matters worse, no one seemed to know much, if anything, about it. Our wonderful pediatrician had studied it, during his medical training years ago, but did not have any patients with this condition. It is rare enough that no one in his practice had ever had a patient with this condition, the two hospitals in our city knew virtually nothing about it, and EMS does not carry and are not trained in giving his life saving medicine! My son is one of only 2 people that have this condition in a city/county of 161,000 people.
Hours of research, gallons of tears cried, countless visits and calls to EMS, government officials, hospitals, Dr. offices, walk in medical clinics and immeasurable heartache went into trying to understand and educate those around us. We searched for others who were knowledgeable in the subject to help us understand the condition better in order to help our son.
Giovanni was born with a rare genetic disorder called "Adrenal Insufficiency". This condition occurs when the adrenal glands produce insufficient amounts of certain hormones that the body needs to maintain life. The adrenal glands produce too little cortisol. The production of two other kinds of hormones is also affected, including mineralocorticoids (for example, aldosterone) and androgens (for example, testosterone).
This is a life threatening condition and requires constant monitoring and adjustments. In order for life to continue, hormone replacement is required each and every day. This is not a condition that Gio will ever grow out of, it is life long.
Giovanni is a fun loving and energetic person. His condition is often overlooked by people around him because his personality outshines the condition. Although Gio is such a happy person, his health is always in question. In the blink of an eye, he can go from being an energetic 5 year old to fighting for his life due to anything from a common cold to an injury. His body can not and does not produce the hormones needed to deal with stress. Within minutes of an injury or illness, Gio can become extermely ill and possibly fall into an Adrenal Crisis. He then requires an emergency injection to keep his body from shutting down. This is a situation that we have been through too many times in his short life.
My family is asking for donations to help with Adrenal Insufficiency Research and any other avenues that we can investigate in order to educate emergency response teams about this condition and the life saving injections that people, such as Giovanni, need in emergency situations. We thank you for taking the time to read about Gio's condition and hope that you can help in any way.
Hours of research, gallons of tears cried, countless visits and calls to EMS, government officials, hospitals, Dr. offices, walk in medical clinics and immeasurable heartache went into trying to understand and educate those around us. We searched for others who were knowledgeable in the subject to help us understand the condition better in order to help our son.
Giovanni was born with a rare genetic disorder called "Adrenal Insufficiency". This condition occurs when the adrenal glands produce insufficient amounts of certain hormones that the body needs to maintain life. The adrenal glands produce too little cortisol. The production of two other kinds of hormones is also affected, including mineralocorticoids (for example, aldosterone) and androgens (for example, testosterone).
This is a life threatening condition and requires constant monitoring and adjustments. In order for life to continue, hormone replacement is required each and every day. This is not a condition that Gio will ever grow out of, it is life long.
Giovanni is a fun loving and energetic person. His condition is often overlooked by people around him because his personality outshines the condition. Although Gio is such a happy person, his health is always in question. In the blink of an eye, he can go from being an energetic 5 year old to fighting for his life due to anything from a common cold to an injury. His body can not and does not produce the hormones needed to deal with stress. Within minutes of an injury or illness, Gio can become extermely ill and possibly fall into an Adrenal Crisis. He then requires an emergency injection to keep his body from shutting down. This is a situation that we have been through too many times in his short life.
My family is asking for donations to help with Adrenal Insufficiency Research and any other avenues that we can investigate in order to educate emergency response teams about this condition and the life saving injections that people, such as Giovanni, need in emergency situations. We thank you for taking the time to read about Gio's condition and hope that you can help in any way.
Organizer
Amanda Colletti
Organizer
Pueblo, CO
