Tanners Journey

My friends son Tanner is an 8 year old boy who has been sick since he was born. Since then he has had over 50 surgeries and procedures, more than any little boy should have to endure. All before he was 3 his immune system pretty much stopped working resulting in several bouts pneumonia, RSV, Mono, Scarlet Fever, Shingles, Severe Sinusitis, Acid Reflux Disease and was Neutropenic all before the age of 3. On top of that he has been on feeding tube formula for his first 18 months of life  from not being able to digest food and bleeding in his intestines and out his rectum. Doctors decided he had Transient Hypogammaglobulinemia which they said he would out grow. Still with all the issues he was battling! His parents just wanted answers for their baby boy. He has since developed even more issues all resulting from his failing little body. He lives in constant pain. Tanner had 13 doctors in Boise and still no real answer. Quincy and Michelle (Tanner’s parents) have exhausted all their resources and taken Tanner to some of the best specialists in the country from Seattle Children’s, to University of Utah to Boston Children’s.

All they wanted were answers and then it happened! In July 2015, Boise had a pretty heavy rain storm. When Michelle came home from a swim meet she discovered her house was flooded with water. They called a restoration company and when they came in the pulled back the carpet to discover two of the most toxic black marker molds in their home.

They were confused because they custom built their home 10 years ago. After investigation it turned out that the construction company who built their house had cut corners and didn’t have proper permits although the Community signed off on the house without being permitted correctly. Tanner’s doctors decided this is why he was so sick, for the last 8 years he has lived in a house that was poisoning him all because someone cut a few corners to make a few extra dollars. The family has spent as much money as they could to move out, repair that damage to move back in and find out that there was more damage with the way the siding was installed. Their insurance company could only cover partially for the damages from the rain storm and the interior mold issues…. But would not cover the majority. What a mess for a family to deal with.

Tanner had the opportunity to attend Boston Children’s in October 2016 due to his mom’s persistence in finding her son help. They have been to Boston once on a grant where Tanner was scheduled with 9 doctors and within two hours of their first visit they had so much clarity and a solid diagnosis on most of his issues.

Since then Tanner has been diagnosed with Functional GI disease, permanent Hypogammagobulinanemia where he won’t grow out of it like he was once told. He also has been in pain for so long that has been ignored by other providers. He has been told that it will take a long time before they find a viable treatment for him to get relief. His orthopedic surgeon in Boston found that his Necrosis has spread beyond his hips now to his knees and elbows.

Tanner needs extensive treatment and it will require several trips back and forth to Boston and as you can see from all the issues related. The family could really use the additional help. The family leaves to go back to Boston on 6/11/2017. In the meantime, their house is not fixed all the way because they tried to go the legal route but the builder filed bankruptcy which means no additional financial means to fix their house properly. So now on top of all this they have attorney fees and the builder gets to walk free.

With all that said this is where the power of community can get behind this family. If you can help donate a little bit of money to a family who just wants to get their house fixed properly to have a safe home environment for their family and to help a little boy get proper treatment then please do what you can to support.