Hello TTPers…
Again this year, my family is participating in the Gutsy Walk – The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada’s annual fundraiser. In particular, Kade (threeten) has been selected as this year’s Honorary Chair.
He picked us a new team name this year – KADE’S COLITIS CRUSHERS. Attached is the link for Kade’s page –
https://secure.ccfcfindthecure.ca/ParticipantPage.aspx?L=2&CCID=102&PID=19485&GC=GTv2
Please consider this charity for your 2012 donations.
Best regards,
Matt, Laura, Kai and Kade Clayton
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Kade’s Story:
Back in August 2009 when he was a little over 2 ½ years old, Kade became ill. He was lethargic, pale, tired, and whiney… just not his normal happy self. And then he started having some bleeding in his stool, and a great deal of pain.
We took him to our family doctor who immediately sent us to Children’s Hospital. Kade was quickly diagnosed with an Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) called Colitis. Over the next 5 months he lived at the hospital, while Laura and I took turns sleeping at home with our older son Kai who was just starting Kindergarten. We tried our very best to keep life as normal as possible for Kai while we treated Kade in the hospital. We even had full family sleepovers in the hospital room with an adult and child each sharing either the hospital bed or the cot (actually… this was quite fun).
But things were not going well for Kade. His blood count was at 56 (the normal level is 130) and things were not improving for him. After multiple colonoscopies, steroids, Imuran, Iron infusions, PICC lines, and an NG feed tube (through his nose down to his stomach)… we had given up hope and were preparing ourselves and Kade for the surgery to remove his colon, and life with a colostomy bag.
At the 11th hour, we put the brakes on and decided to try one last treatment first. An aggressive drug called Cyclosporin which has many undesirable side effects, but would hopefully slow down Kade’s bleeding and buy us time for his long term medication to begin working (Imuran). Our plan worked… and Kade’s health began improving.
On Christmas Eve, the doctors and nurses surprised us with the opportunity to go home for a couple days to celebrate Christmas – BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!
When we returned to the hospital on Boxing Day, the staff saw how great Kade was improving… and decided to train Laura and I on how to care for him at home… cleaning and locking his PICC line… giving him his 13 doses of medications per day… and operating and cleaning his feed tubes and pumps.
Kade continued to improve at home and by the beginning of April 2010, the doctors removed all of his tubes and gave us the “green light” to take a family vacation to Maui for a couple of weeks. The doctors gave us a gentle warning, though – to enjoy Kade’s good health as he would undoubtedly have another flare up. Over the next year and a half of good health Kade had many new and exciting experiences – learning to swim, playing hockey and baseball, camping, travelling to Disneyland, and even learning how to ski at Silverstar Mountain.
In October 2011, Kade started getting sick again and ended up back at Children’s Hospital. Many of our friends were still working in our old ward… and even saved us a room with a view of the helicopter landing pad. We were again threatened with the risk of having his colon removed. We ended up staying at the hospital for a couple of weeks, then treating Kade at home for another month before he had enough energy to get back to school. Eventually he gained back enough energy to play hockey and began practicing with his team – the South Delta Spidermonkeys. And in Kade’s first ever game, he scored a hat-trick. Everyone on his team was so excited for him (a few tears were shed that day).
This year, Kade has been selected as the Youth Honorary Chair by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC). Please support the CCFC and our new team – KADE’S COLITIS CRUSHERS – to help raise a record amount of funds in this year’s Gutsy Walk. Let’s help to find a cure for this painful disease!
Again this year, my family is participating in the Gutsy Walk – The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada’s annual fundraiser. In particular, Kade (threeten) has been selected as this year’s Honorary Chair.
He picked us a new team name this year – KADE’S COLITIS CRUSHERS. Attached is the link for Kade’s page –
https://secure.ccfcfindthecure.ca/ParticipantPage.aspx?L=2&CCID=102&PID=19485&GC=GTv2
Please consider this charity for your 2012 donations.
Best regards,
Matt, Laura, Kai and Kade Clayton
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kade’s Story:
Back in August 2009 when he was a little over 2 ½ years old, Kade became ill. He was lethargic, pale, tired, and whiney… just not his normal happy self. And then he started having some bleeding in his stool, and a great deal of pain.
We took him to our family doctor who immediately sent us to Children’s Hospital. Kade was quickly diagnosed with an Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) called Colitis. Over the next 5 months he lived at the hospital, while Laura and I took turns sleeping at home with our older son Kai who was just starting Kindergarten. We tried our very best to keep life as normal as possible for Kai while we treated Kade in the hospital. We even had full family sleepovers in the hospital room with an adult and child each sharing either the hospital bed or the cot (actually… this was quite fun).
But things were not going well for Kade. His blood count was at 56 (the normal level is 130) and things were not improving for him. After multiple colonoscopies, steroids, Imuran, Iron infusions, PICC lines, and an NG feed tube (through his nose down to his stomach)… we had given up hope and were preparing ourselves and Kade for the surgery to remove his colon, and life with a colostomy bag.
At the 11th hour, we put the brakes on and decided to try one last treatment first. An aggressive drug called Cyclosporin which has many undesirable side effects, but would hopefully slow down Kade’s bleeding and buy us time for his long term medication to begin working (Imuran). Our plan worked… and Kade’s health began improving.
On Christmas Eve, the doctors and nurses surprised us with the opportunity to go home for a couple days to celebrate Christmas – BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!
When we returned to the hospital on Boxing Day, the staff saw how great Kade was improving… and decided to train Laura and I on how to care for him at home… cleaning and locking his PICC line… giving him his 13 doses of medications per day… and operating and cleaning his feed tubes and pumps.
Kade continued to improve at home and by the beginning of April 2010, the doctors removed all of his tubes and gave us the “green light” to take a family vacation to Maui for a couple of weeks. The doctors gave us a gentle warning, though – to enjoy Kade’s good health as he would undoubtedly have another flare up. Over the next year and a half of good health Kade had many new and exciting experiences – learning to swim, playing hockey and baseball, camping, travelling to Disneyland, and even learning how to ski at Silverstar Mountain.
In October 2011, Kade started getting sick again and ended up back at Children’s Hospital. Many of our friends were still working in our old ward… and even saved us a room with a view of the helicopter landing pad. We were again threatened with the risk of having his colon removed. We ended up staying at the hospital for a couple of weeks, then treating Kade at home for another month before he had enough energy to get back to school. Eventually he gained back enough energy to play hockey and began practicing with his team – the South Delta Spidermonkeys. And in Kade’s first ever game, he scored a hat-trick. Everyone on his team was so excited for him (a few tears were shed that day).
This year, Kade has been selected as the Youth Honorary Chair by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC). Please support the CCFC and our new team – KADE’S COLITIS CRUSHERS – to help raise a record amount of funds in this year’s Gutsy Walk. Let’s help to find a cure for this painful disease!
