Please take some hope from our good news

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Aug 14, 2011
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My son Matt is 13. He was diagnosed at 11 and was very very ill at that time, he was in hospital for a long time unable to walk and came out in a wheelchair, before they worked out what was wrong. when he was eventually diagnosed I was lucky enough to find this forum and gained a lot of support from the good people on here. I haunted the forum day and night In floods of tears, grieving for the life which I felt Matt should have had and terrified for the future. I read what other kids were going through which in many cases was even worse than Matt, with kids who were much younger. I was in the depths of despair thinking that Matt was only going to get worse and those awfully sad tales were what lay ahead for him. Once diagnosed Matt was put on a meal replacement called Modulen and then after four months he was put on azathioprine (and yes I agonised over that as we all have) and omeprazole. He was still unwell and very up and down suffering what appeared to be flares but which the tests did not verify. So what is the good news? Since around November Matt has been getting better and better. The turning point came when he started to worry about his height. He had read that having crohns can affect growth and his friends were getting their growth spurts and he was terrified of being left behind. He decided that he would supplement his food with two drinks of Modulen a day in the hope that the extra nutrients his body would get would help him grow. This was a big decision for a boy who hated the stuff and had twice lived on it for months instead of food. Well, The outcome has been dramatic. He has grown around 4 centimetres and has gained around 5kilos. But the really good news is he feels like he no longer has crohns (his words). No pain, no joint pain, no problems with his bowels at all just regular bowel movements. His energy is through the roof. He is now back at gymnastics, he is doing archery and parkour (similar to free running), he is a volunteer for St John Ambulance and his life is good. He was even picked to be part of a team demonstrating parkour at his open night at school. He has signed up to do his bronze Duke of Edinburgh award.

I am sharing this as I never thought I would see this day. He is clearly in remission (for how long I don't know). Whether it is the meds finally kicking in or the Modulen supplements which have caused it I cant be certain, but I am convinced the Modulen has played a part.

So to all you parents out there whose child has been recently diagnosed and you are grieving for what they have lost I would like to say there is hope. Matts life is good, long may that last and I hope all your kids get there too xxx
 
Wow a great story!!! :banana: I am so happy for Matt and your family!

I'm so glad he supplemented with the shakes, it truly can make such a difference!

May it continue for a long, long , long time!!! :medal1:



(Dusty - is it possible to copy Mumof4 's post into the Kids' success story thread? It's would be a shame to lose the story as it gets bumped further back in the threads...) http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=27079
 
Thank you for sharing! I hope he stays in remission if forever is not possible then a super long time!
My younger son does parkour and loves it but then he is quite the little daredevil.
Glad he is doing so well and sounds like he is really enjoying life right now.
 
Thanks for sharing! That is definitely such good news! I am glad to hear he was able to catch up and is growing so well. It goes to show you that it can be done. Unfortunatly we were not so lucky and my daughter is 2-3 inches shorter then she probably would have been. I am so glad to hear a success story with the growth related issues as I know a lot of parents here are concerned about that as it seems crohns strikes very often around puberty or right before puberty.
 
I don't know how I missed this, but wow I loved reading it !
I'm so happy for your family ! :hug:
 
What a great update!!!! Thanks for sharing. I have been trying to convince my son to drink a couple of Modulen shakes a day but he can't stand the taste so he has been drinking Boost or Ensure instead. I am going to show him your son's story and hopefully it will convince him to give the Modulen another go.
 

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