I am destroyed. My precious angel is dying.

[Dustlawyer]

212. I lost my son, Joshua when he was 3 1/2 to Sepsis brought on when the digestive enzymes we gave

him to digest his food ate holes in his intestines. He suffered from Cystic Fibrosis which causes the body to not handle salt properly. That in turn makes the fluid that washes your lungs and the pancreatic duct extra thick. For the lungs it sticks inside and causes lung infections, scarring, and eventually loss of breathing function.

For the pancreas it blocks the digestive enzymes from entering the stomach, retarding digestion and causing intestinal blockages. Their stools come out off color and very smelly. CF victims have to take pig enzymes in capsule form with each meal to take the place of what they would normally get from their pancreas.

My son and his cousin, born a week after my son, both with this genetic disease, had more problems than most getting their food to digest. They had to take way more than the normal amount of enzymes for a CF child to get their stools to come out right (digested).

Children with CF need to be hospitalized for every cold or illness, no matter how minor, due to the real threat of pneumonia and more lung scarring. Every time we would take him to the hospital, 4-5 times a year for minimum two weeks at a time (while we were insured, another story of the evils of health insurance companies) they would tell us the same thing. "While he is here we are going to try to get to the bottom of why he needs so many enzymes with his food." They would run batteries of tests and at the end of his stay they would say the same thing, "We still do not know what is causing him to have to take so many, but keep giving him the extra, it won't hurt him."

Well it did hurt him, it killed him! For two years I was a basket case. I needed to find something from his death that I could turn into a positive. I donated blood like so many had done for Josh. I figured that if I could survive his loss and recover that unless I lost another child, everything else paled in comparison. It has really helped me put the rest of my life's problems in perspective these last 24 years since he died.

About 15 years ago i learned from my sister-in-law who's son Larry was the cousin with CF, that Joshua's death and his medical records were written about in the medical journals. They determined that too many enzymes would do what happened to Josh (no autopsy due to my wife's religious reasons) and digest a hole in his intestines. They put limits on the number of pills and found alternative methods to get digested nutrients into these seriously ill individuals. Turns out that through his death he saved lives!

Little Larry went on to become a Louisiana state HS wrestling champion, a husband, and miraculously, a father. CF males are usually sterile. He is also a wonderful young man.

I tell you this to let you know that maybe some good can come about out of this tragic situation. My heart goes out to this little girl and all of the rest of her family and friends. You can help see that it does, I wish you the best.