Help Elijah fight this battle.

Our 16 year old son, Elijah, has always been an amazing person. Elijah was an early college student who was on schedule to graduate high school with an associates degree, and planned on joining the military after graduation. He has always put his friends and family first, and worked with his school to help serve the community by helping students at local elementary schools.

Our son’s world came crashing down around him and his fight is nowhere near over. On May 22nd he was taken to the ER after hours of vomiting and increasing abdominal pain. He was diagnosed with severe pancreatitis and transferred to another local hospital. Further imaging showed his abdominal cavity to be filling with fluids. After a few days, and with symptoms worsening, We were transferred to MUSC children’s hospital. The doctor’s were able to determine that the pancreatitis was necrotising, and started treatment with antibiotics immediately. He was put on a feeding tube since he was unable to hold down food, and put on an automatic pain pump. Over the next 3 weeks he had several procedures to drain pockets of fluid from his abdomen. The doctors thought he was well enough to go home and continue getting better, but those hopes were short lived. Less than 2 weeks after returning home, Elijah started slowly feeling more pain, and was visibly weaker day after day.

On July 5th, we were readmitted to the hospital for more scans, testing, and observation. Overnight Elijah took a turn for the worse, and his left lung collapsed under the pressure of the fluids his body was holding. Over the next 5 weeks, Elijah fought for his life. He underwent multiple procedures, removing necrosing tissue from his pancreas, placing stents in his stomach and chest drain tubes to remove as much fluid as possible. For the better part of a month he was unable to eat solid foods and received IV nutrition. After 5 weeks of hospitalization, the doctor thought he was well enough to go home, but once again, those hopes were short lived. After a few days home, Elijah started running a low grade fever that would proceed to get worse over the next couple days. We took him back to the emergency room, and were immediately transferred back to MUSC.

On August 14th, we were readmitted for the 3rd time. Elijah underwent a couple more draining procedures and the doctors were able to get things under control relatively quickly this time, and was able to return home after 2 ½ weeks. Unfortunately that was the only good news we received.

The doctors informed us that the tail end of Elijah’s pancreas has died and will need to be removed. In order to complete the surgery, the surgeon will have to remove a portion of his pancreas, his gallbladder, and his spleen. He will be hospitalized for a minimum of a week afterwards, and will take months to fully recover from the surgery, along with a list of possible long term effects from the removal of his organs.

Due to Elijah’s medical condition, he has lost over 50 lbs, his hair has started falling out, and he was forced to withdraw from the early college and start a home based school program. He will no longer physically qualify to be able to join any branch of the military, he may face life long issues with immunity and will likely be insulin dependent for the rest of his life.

We have had an unbelievable amount of support from family and friends and we can’t thank them enough. Now we are reaching out for a different kind of support. Through this all we’ve racked up medical bills along with costs of hotels, food, and travel expenses all while having to take leave from work. We are asking for anything you can spare to help Elijah and our family through this difficult time.