Callahan Family Medical Travel
Donation protected
Our family is expecting another child due in January of 2018. Mariko went to Japan to have a DNA test done on the baby to find out if it would be healthy or have mitochondrial disease. We received the worst kind of news we could have.
Just a brief history for those that may not know. When I was on active duty in the United States Marine Corps. Mariko and I lost our first daughter May Raika Callahan at 1 day old. We watched as the doctors did CPR for 12 hours straight and then were asked to make a decision as there wasn’t anything they could do for our child we held her as she passed. The doctors told us it was because of meconium aspirations.
We got pregnant again with our second daughter and was very anxious for a healthy baby. I had to go to the states for work and Mariko delivered Julia Jo Callahan in Japan. She immediately had complications after birth similar to May. The doctors had suggested that she had mitochondrial disease this was in May of 2009 and not much was known about the disease at the time. They attempted treatments and Julia did okay for about 4 months then in one day all the symptoms returned and were too much and she couldn’t pull through.
We got pregnant again with our son Kye James Callahan in 2011 and we received genetics counseling from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore Maryland. There were no genetic tests available at the time for the baby so we were very nervous. Kye was born Jan. 2012 and was completely healthy.
We as a family have since had genetic tests done. Mariko, Myself and Kye are all carriers of mitochondrial disease on one side. Julia was a carrier on both sides and this baby that we are currently pregnant with is a carrier on both sides. It was the worse news we could have asked for. But the Japanese doctors are willing to attempt to treat our baby and it will be one of the first cases of this type of mitochondrial disease ever treated.
We are asking our friends and family to help out with some of the travel cost associated with the many flights that will be required to make this happen for our family to have the least amount of worry with all that will be going on during the upcoming months.
Mariko has been asked by the doctors to fly back to Japan no later than the first week of November. Mariko and Kye will fly back at that time and I will stay stateside until her due date is scheduled. I will then fly out to be with them as long as I can stay work permitted.
Mariko and I think that delivering this baby in Japan is our only option and that by the doctors attempting treatment they may get to have a better understanding of this disease and it could potentially help other people and our own Son and his family later in life. We have no idea how long we will have with our child and it will be our last time that we attempt to have another child.
I apologize to any friends or family that we didn’t let know until now but we were awaiting results and once we received the news had to find a way to cope until we could plan for the best way to go about this.
If you can please share this with your family and friends every donation will help lessen some of the worries associated with all we will be going through in the coming months.
Just a brief history for those that may not know. When I was on active duty in the United States Marine Corps. Mariko and I lost our first daughter May Raika Callahan at 1 day old. We watched as the doctors did CPR for 12 hours straight and then were asked to make a decision as there wasn’t anything they could do for our child we held her as she passed. The doctors told us it was because of meconium aspirations.
We got pregnant again with our second daughter and was very anxious for a healthy baby. I had to go to the states for work and Mariko delivered Julia Jo Callahan in Japan. She immediately had complications after birth similar to May. The doctors had suggested that she had mitochondrial disease this was in May of 2009 and not much was known about the disease at the time. They attempted treatments and Julia did okay for about 4 months then in one day all the symptoms returned and were too much and she couldn’t pull through.
We got pregnant again with our son Kye James Callahan in 2011 and we received genetics counseling from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore Maryland. There were no genetic tests available at the time for the baby so we were very nervous. Kye was born Jan. 2012 and was completely healthy.
We as a family have since had genetic tests done. Mariko, Myself and Kye are all carriers of mitochondrial disease on one side. Julia was a carrier on both sides and this baby that we are currently pregnant with is a carrier on both sides. It was the worse news we could have asked for. But the Japanese doctors are willing to attempt to treat our baby and it will be one of the first cases of this type of mitochondrial disease ever treated.
We are asking our friends and family to help out with some of the travel cost associated with the many flights that will be required to make this happen for our family to have the least amount of worry with all that will be going on during the upcoming months.
Mariko has been asked by the doctors to fly back to Japan no later than the first week of November. Mariko and Kye will fly back at that time and I will stay stateside until her due date is scheduled. I will then fly out to be with them as long as I can stay work permitted.
Mariko and I think that delivering this baby in Japan is our only option and that by the doctors attempting treatment they may get to have a better understanding of this disease and it could potentially help other people and our own Son and his family later in life. We have no idea how long we will have with our child and it will be our last time that we attempt to have another child.
I apologize to any friends or family that we didn’t let know until now but we were awaiting results and once we received the news had to find a way to cope until we could plan for the best way to go about this.
If you can please share this with your family and friends every donation will help lessen some of the worries associated with all we will be going through in the coming months.
Organizer
Russell Callahan
Organizer
Ridgecrest, CA