Support Alex in his battle with Ulcerative Colitis

In March of 2015 Alex Encinas was diagnosed with severe Ulcerative Colitis, a debilitating inflammatory bowel disease or IBD that causes long lasting inflammation, severe pain and ulcers in the colon. His body is not responding to any medication and his condition continues to worsen. Because of the severity and progression, Dr's have decided an immediate 3 part surgery is necessary to rid Alex of the disease. The first surgery is scheduled for January 21st at Sacred heart in Spokane. Alex and his young family need all the help they can get. The insurance premium, leftover surgery cost, hospital stays, recovery cost, the many drs visits and medications will add on to their already strained budget. Although Alex’s wife Felicia works, her income is not sufficient to support them another 6 months. Without these surgeries this disease will inevitably win the battle, a wife at age 25 will lose her husband and their 2 young boys will lose their father.


What is Ulcerative Colitis

https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/u/ulcerative-colitis.html

What is j-pouch surgery

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/j-pouch-surgery/about/pac-20385069


It has been 4 long years for Alex and Felicia, fighting an uphill battle, met with obstacles at every turn. To better understand what these two have gone through, here is their story..........


It was summertime 2014 when the newly engaged Alex and Felicia departed their home in Idaho for the oil fields of North Dakota, leaving theirs families to start their life together, excited and on their own for the first time. 

Life was good for the young couple. Planning a wedding, working and making plans for the future. As fall approached Felicia learned she was pregnant. Her and Alex were overjoyed with happiness but kept it a secret, wanting just the 2 of them to enjoy the special gift god had given them before sharing the news with family and friends.


In late October they made their first trip home. This is when they shared their exciting news. Home after months of hard work, a chance to relax and hang out with friends and siblings for a week, a good job, a baby on the way, it seemed life couldn’t get much better. At this same time Alex started exhibiting symptoms of IBD. Being the man that he is it was put on the back burner as a minor inconvenience. The vacation was over, they were headed back to North Dakota and back to work. There was a baby on the way and he didn’t have time to get sick he told himself, he refused to let it affect him. After another couple of weeks with flu like symptoms Alex was treated for dehydration and severe IBD. As the weeks and months went by he made several more ER and dr visits for dehydration, IBD symptoms and weight loss. By March 2015 it had gotten worse and the weight was falling off even quicker now, Alex went from 190lbs to 160lbs in 1 month. He was losing a pound a day. On his last dr visit in north dakota he was told he could no longer work and needed to go home to get real answers. 


 Felicia now 6 months pregnant was back home to be close to her drs and prepare for the arrival of their baby. Alex made the phone call to his fiancé to tell her he would be unable continue working in North Dakota. Unsure of just how sick he was, Felicia rode the train from Spokane to Williston, ND to help him pack up and get home before he was too sick to make the trip. Less than 5 days later they had his truck packed full and their camper trailer sold. Alex was too sick to make the 13 hour drive so Felicia drove them home, scared with tears running down her cheeks she watched him sleep in the seat next to her, he was frail, his body now a skeleton. Not even an hour back home it was decided a trip to the ER was best. Alex was given IV fluids, steroids, and various other medications and was sent home to start a prep for a scope as soon as they could fit him in. 2 days later he got his diagnosis: Moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis.


Finally, answers as to what was wrong!  It was time to face the disease head on and get it under control. Felicias parents had graciously taken them in so Alex could heal as they were about to welcome a baby. Felicia went back to work as a CNA and for the next few months Alex did everything he could to heal his body with the medication his Gastroenterologist prescribed. He was unable to work so their savings from ND quickly dwindled just to keep their bills paid. On Fathers Day June 21st their son Deklan was born. More than anything Alex wanted to get better so he could get back to work to take care of his new family. As you can imagine the medical debt continued to rack up, bills stretching from North Dakota to Coeurd’Alene. It was too much to keep up on. Essentials and car payments were all they could afford by now. 


In September of 2015 Alex's flare up had gotten considerably worse and he ended up in the hospital for over a week getting IV steroids to control the inflammation as well as pain management. A week after being discharged Alex pushed through and went back to work, there was no money left and Felicia was staying home caring for their son until going back to work in December.


For the next year Alex struggled to stay healthy. His flareups were up and down, he could never seem to go into remission. Everytime he would taper from the steroids it wasn't long before his symptoms came back again. He went from one medication to the next praying one would help. Insurance denying medications only added to their stress as well as the strain to their already financial hardship. Late fall 2016 things got worse again, and after another fight with insurance over a prescribed infused medication and while waiting for approval, he was admitted to the hospital for yet another week to try and get control of the disease. He waited months for insurance to approve the medication. Early spring of 2017 it was finally approved and he had his first infusion. The side effects were awful. He would get them on a Friday so he could take the weekend to recover before returning to work on Monday. Every 4-6 weeks a nurse came to the house to hook him up to an IV for his medication, each infusion taking 3-4 hours to administer. Frequent appointments with the doctor, bloodwork every other month, scheduling time off work to get the infusions.. That was the new normal. Despite the new lifestyle things were starting to look up, his health was improving. The infusions seemed to be working. Alex was back to work full time and plans for the future were once again underway. During this time Felicia and Alex became pregnant again, another baby boy. Hartley born In April of 2018. 


The improvement to Alexs health didn’t last, as once again his health started to decline. Another flare up and with 2 children to provide for, Alex was feeling the pressure. The doctor ordered another procedure for October 1st 2018 to see if his colon had improved since beginning infusions the year prior. The at home prep severely dehydrated him to the point he had to be rushed to the ER. He had a high fever and was barely conscious. His body was shutting down, the doctors said he wouldn't have made it if he had gotten to the hospital any later. They wouldn't let Felicia in the room while the medical team worked on him, she sat in the waiting room crying and praying her husband would be ok. After getting him stable they let her in and told them both he was lucky to be alive. The Dr decided to admit him and do the scope the following day In-hospital, sending him home was too dangerous. It was a quick procedure..they weren’t able to perform a full scope because the inflammation was too bad. The infusion medication Remicade wasnt working. It was time to move on to the next one. Another waiting game on insurance for approval. This time a UC specific infusable drug, Entyvio. It was the last medication to try. His Gi dr knowing they would have to wait went ahead and wrote a referral for a consultation with a top colorectal surgeon in Spokane before starting Entyvio. 


Dec 27th, 2 days after Christmas after a brief talk with the surgeon it was made clear that surgery is the only option. The disease has taken its toll and is not manageable by medication. Alexs colon is too damaged and will never heal. 

 

The only thing to rid Alex of this disease and to live a normal life is this 3 part surgery. First surgery will remove the entire colon and place a temporary ileostomy bag, after 3 months a second surgery to create a "j-pouch". 6 weeks later is the final take-down surgery to connect the pieces so that Alex will function normally again.


Although this is an amazing surgical intervention to rid Alex of his Ulcerative Colitis, it is a major surgery that requires 6 months or more of healing and recovery. He will not be able to work while his body heals between surgeries, gets used to functioning without a colon, and his body recovers from the constant medications and being very sick for so long . Living on Felicia's single wage during these 6 months (or longer if there is complication) is going to put an extreme financial strain on their already struggling family. They are reaching out to all the resources they can but fear it may not be enough to reach the end. Alex's employer paid Insurance will stop around the end of February and self contribution coverage will kick in but will be too expensive for the family to afford until he is well enough to work again. 


Thank you so much for taking the time to read his story and take a peek into the world of someone living with severe Ulcerative Colitis. Alex and his wife are so grateful for all the support from family and friends they have recieved in this journey thus far. Every donation will go straight to medical and surgical costs, insurance coverage and any other bills and expenses incurred for recovery that Felicia's wage will not cover while Alex is recovering. Alex is an amazing man who would do anything to help someone in need. He has suffered from this painful and severely debilitating disease for far too long. At age 29 Alexs life as a husband and father has only just begun. His sons are only 9 months and 3 years old. His wife Felicia and boys Deklan and Hartley are his entire world. These sweet little boys need their father. Felicia needs her husband. He fights this disease every day....he fights it not for himself....he fights it for them. 


Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me