Jenna Patterson's Medical Fund

Dondi and I wanted to set this GO Fund Me up in response to the numerous inquiries as to how to help. Below is a recount of what Jenna has been going through over the last week:

Jenna Patterson is very active and plays competitive soccer for the Dallas Texans. She is a junior at Royse City High School and has a promising collegiate career since verbally committing to play at Dallas Baptist University upon graduation. Jenna has been in the hospital since 9/9/2017. She has been tested numerous times with different misdiagnoses and hooked up on pain medication, but doctors are still unable to figure out the cause for her pain. While the doctors are trying to figure out what Jenna has, it has turned into a parents' nightmare. This poor girl is ill and that is very rare for her. Please help us all in both praying and funding for the Patterson family as they go through this difficult time. Read the story below for details on Jenna's illness thus far.

This all began on Tuesday night 9/5/2017- she returned home from soccer practice and had a snack before bed. When she woke up the next morning, her stomach was a little upset, but she wanted to go to school because she had a lot of work to do. On Wednesday evening, she began throwing up and feeling nauseous. This lasted for several days. On Friday, her parents (Jon and Martha Patterson) took Jenna into the clinic because they were afraid she was beginning to look dehydrated. The clinic took urine and blood samples and she was told it was a stomach bug, suggesting Pedialyte and rest. They went home, only to continue the same symptoms through the night. By Saturday afternoon, Jenna was having extreme stomach pain, pain in her ribs, and her skin color did not look normal. Martha decided she needed to go to the ER. They went to Baylor Rockwall. After tests were done at Baylor (CT of head, CT of stomach, and chest X-ray), they were told she had SMA (Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome). They then transferred Jenna to Medical City Children’s.  

When they arrived at Medical City ER, they immediately started the IV and added morphine for pain. Martha questioned, "why a narcotic", but the doctors' response was, "it is the best for pain". By Sunday morning, the vomiting had stopped but Jenna began having chest pain. She was finally seen by a pediatric doctor on Monday afternoon. They were told that her small intestines were in spasms and her body would correct itself in due time. Everyone was concerned that Jenna was not improving and her family asked for a GI specialist. They were able to get an endoscopy done on Tuesday morning with a pediatric GI. He did biopsies and said everything looked normal with no abrasions. He did notice that the stomach had bruising at the top because it had slipped into the esophagus from all of the vomiting. He suggested that this is what could be causing Jenna to have chest pain. It was agreed that she needed more nutrition than just the IV, so a PICC was done for her to get her fats, lipids, and protein. All this time, Jenna was getting all sorts of meds for nausea, vomiting, and pain. Every day there was a new test done to see what was going on. First a barium swallow, with an upper GI, then more blood tests, and X-rays. After seeing a different pediatric GI and different pediatric Dr, several more X-rays were done.

Finally, a CT on Thursday 9/14/2017 was done with a possible diagnosis of MALS (Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome). To confirm this, Jenna needed a special CT and that was done Friday afternoon. By this time, Jenna couldn't stand the pain. She would get an hour or so of relief at a pain level of 5. When it got really bad her pain was at an 8-9 and she was screaming for pain meds (morphine). This happened at least every 2-3 hours throughout the day and night. The doctors had already increased her dosage and they were increasing the times given because she was in such pain and requested it more and more often.

When Saturday arrived, they were given yet another new pediatric Dr, informing them that the test for MALS was negative. At this point, Jenna's parents were ready to transfer her to Children’s hospital in Dallas. That became a nightmare as well when they were told she couldn't be transferred until Monday because she wasn't emergent care. Her parents were told they could have her released into their own care and take her to Children’s ER themselves, taking all her test results. The fear was they would have to start the process all over again and that probably wouldn't be until Monday. Martha requested to see the pediatric GI immediately, but yet again it was a new pediatric GI Dr. This was their 3rd pediatric Dr and 3rd pediatric GI Dr. All of which wanted to do a different plan of action! The two new doctors decided that they needed to clear out her stomach and bowels and immediately take her off the morphine, and possibly add something to help her sleep/ deal with the now anxiety she was having. Tonight, Saturday, Jenna is sleeping for more than 45 min - hour at a time. She has a tube down her throat and they have flushed out her stomach upwards and are working on flushing the bowels outwards. She has not had any morphine since 2pm today and she isn't screaming in pain. Her family is NOT out of the woods and they still don't know what is going on with her, but God has a plan and it is His and HE IS GOOD! We are encouraged by all the prayers and messages. Thank you all ❤. Keep them coming. Our God is a mighty God!!!

Here are a few verses we have posted in Jenna's hospital room. Psalms 30:2 O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me. Matthew 14:14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. Psalms 6:2 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled. Luke 5:17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Psalm 30:2 LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. Psalm 41:3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness. James 5:15-16 "And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.” Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Matthew 7:7-8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us