My 14 year old brother has had a life full of hospital/doctor visits because of his several allergies and sensitive skin. This past year he has also had worsening GI issues and his doctors have yet to find a cause or remedy.

On July 24th he was hospitalized after a simple optometrist visit when they discovered he couldn’t see out of his left eye. Jacob was then taken to a specialist that found out he had swelling of his optic nerve and directed him to the ER. Once in the hospital, they put him on steroids, ran multiple MRI’s and put in a picc line to begin plasma transfusions. This was an attempt to stop the swelling from spreading to the other eye and potentially causing permanent blindness.

During visits it was clear he was drained and miserable from being poked and prodded but we tried our best to cheer him up with some air hockey and wii sports.

Fast forward two weeks later, he’s had a “House” team of Doctors working to figure out what all is going on; potentially MS, Lyme Disease, Listeria or something else. They’ve done more MRI’s, had a spinal tap done, 4 plasma transfusions (which had more complications), an EKG, a gallbladder scan, is now being treated for vitamin deficiencies and being given IVIG treatments to help strengthen his immune system. My parents have since limited visits from others and doing what they can to avoid exposing him to anything else while in the hospital.

Still trying to treat the eyes but there is the potential that he has developed macular degeneration, they also have not found a primary cause for his prior GI issues (as it was acting up again in the hospital even with no dietary changes). He has also been given high dose vitamin injections because his body has not been absorbing them, even with taking an assortment of them, the plasma treatments depleted much of what he had left.

He is expected to be home this coming Sunday (8/10) or Monday (8/11) but will still have to work on rebuilding his immune system and hoping to get some more answers soon.

It has been a stressful couple of weeks, and can only imagine the bill with the countless tests and procedure's he’s been through. Any little bit will help ease the financial burden for my parents.

Update: Jacob has returned home and the treatments have stopped any additional damage to his eye sight. Still unsure of if he will regain vision in his left eye again, and what all started these issues to begin with. Now, follow ups ensue with even more doctors hoping to get answers.