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Gardner Family Foundation
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Josh's Story
Joshua Gardner turned 3 on July 22nd, 2008. He is bright and funny and full of life. The third of four children, he has tons of charisma and has mastered the art of getting what he wants by using his charm! He is very articulate and often says things that make everyone laugh. He is a huge blessing in our life!
Unfortunately, Josh's immune system does not function properly. Like his older siblings, he has many food allergies. However, unlike Hope and Brendon, his body seems to attack every food that he eats. It creates white blood cells called eosinophils every time he eats, and his GI tract becomes inflamed and damaged as his immune system attacks all the food going through it. Before this disease was diagnosed, Joshua would vomit 10-12 times a day and have diarrhea 10-14 times a day. He was literally starving to death despite eating huge servings of food. It was an enormous relief when, after 14 months of medical tests, we finally received his diagnosis in August '07 and had a treatment plan to follow.
Although the medications and dietary restrictions that Joshua is on have effectively eliminated his vomiting and reduced his diarrhea, they have not been able to reduce the production of eosinpohils in his body. Because of this, he has been able to gain weight, but he struggles with chronic pain throughout his GI tract, and he still has chronic diarrhea. He is a really tough kid and is often matter of fact when he says "I have big fire in my tummy" or "I have a buzzy bee in my tummy," but it breaks our heart when he cries from the pain. We would do anything to heal his little body and take this terrible disease away from him!
Joshua was initially diagnosed with this disease after having an endoscopy and colonoscopy with biopsies last August. At that time, everything looked fine visually, but they found the eosinophils in the biopsies, giving us the diagnosis of Eosinophilic Colitis. He was just scoped and biopsied again at the end of June ('08), and things have gotten worse. Visually, his esophagus was red and irritated, his stomach was covered in little red pin-prick size dots, and he has developed some nodules in his intestines. Biopsy revealed he has eosinophils in his duodenum now, in addition to them still being in his colon, and he has an ulcer in his stomach. So despite the symptomatic improvements, his intestinal tract is becoming more and more damaged from the eosinophils attacking it.
As a result, we are implementing two changes. One is that we are going to fly to Denver this fall in order to get a second opinion from one of the leading GI doctors in the country for treating this disease. The other is that we will be having a naso-gastric tube placed on July 28th in the hopes that Josh will tolerate a special amino acid-based formula called EleCare. If he tolerates it, we will be removing all food from his diet for a minimum of 3 months in order to give his immune system the opportunity to calm down and stop producing so many eosinophils.
We appreciate your prayers, your e-mails, and your many small kindnesses as we battle this disease alongside Joshua. We know that God is faithful and that He hears the cries of his people. Please continue to pray for healing for Joshua, for strength and peace for our family, and for discernment for us and Josh's doctors as we determine his treatment plans. We will try to keep you all posted and appreciate your love and friendship more than we could ever say!
Visit Josh's blog: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/m
Joshua Gardner turned 3 on July 22nd, 2008. He is bright and funny and full of life. The third of four children, he has tons of charisma and has mastered the art of getting what he wants by using his charm! He is very articulate and often says things that make everyone laugh. He is a huge blessing in our life!
Unfortunately, Josh's immune system does not function properly. Like his older siblings, he has many food allergies. However, unlike Hope and Brendon, his body seems to attack every food that he eats. It creates white blood cells called eosinophils every time he eats, and his GI tract becomes inflamed and damaged as his immune system attacks all the food going through it. Before this disease was diagnosed, Joshua would vomit 10-12 times a day and have diarrhea 10-14 times a day. He was literally starving to death despite eating huge servings of food. It was an enormous relief when, after 14 months of medical tests, we finally received his diagnosis in August '07 and had a treatment plan to follow.
Although the medications and dietary restrictions that Joshua is on have effectively eliminated his vomiting and reduced his diarrhea, they have not been able to reduce the production of eosinpohils in his body. Because of this, he has been able to gain weight, but he struggles with chronic pain throughout his GI tract, and he still has chronic diarrhea. He is a really tough kid and is often matter of fact when he says "I have big fire in my tummy" or "I have a buzzy bee in my tummy," but it breaks our heart when he cries from the pain. We would do anything to heal his little body and take this terrible disease away from him!
Joshua was initially diagnosed with this disease after having an endoscopy and colonoscopy with biopsies last August. At that time, everything looked fine visually, but they found the eosinophils in the biopsies, giving us the diagnosis of Eosinophilic Colitis. He was just scoped and biopsied again at the end of June ('08), and things have gotten worse. Visually, his esophagus was red and irritated, his stomach was covered in little red pin-prick size dots, and he has developed some nodules in his intestines. Biopsy revealed he has eosinophils in his duodenum now, in addition to them still being in his colon, and he has an ulcer in his stomach. So despite the symptomatic improvements, his intestinal tract is becoming more and more damaged from the eosinophils attacking it.
As a result, we are implementing two changes. One is that we are going to fly to Denver this fall in order to get a second opinion from one of the leading GI doctors in the country for treating this disease. The other is that we will be having a naso-gastric tube placed on July 28th in the hopes that Josh will tolerate a special amino acid-based formula called EleCare. If he tolerates it, we will be removing all food from his diet for a minimum of 3 months in order to give his immune system the opportunity to calm down and stop producing so many eosinophils.
We appreciate your prayers, your e-mails, and your many small kindnesses as we battle this disease alongside Joshua. We know that God is faithful and that He hears the cries of his people. Please continue to pray for healing for Joshua, for strength and peace for our family, and for discernment for us and Josh's doctors as we determine his treatment plans. We will try to keep you all posted and appreciate your love and friendship more than we could ever say!
Visit Josh's blog: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/m
