IBD
Brad
Diagnosed at 10,
Chron’s disease

For 12-year-old, living with IBD offers challenges, fun and friendships

Brad was always interested in sports and played hard starting at an early age. But he began to have unexplained leg cramps and knee pain when he was 4 or 5.

Then his mother, Laurel, started to hear Brad complain, ever more frequently, about stomachaches. She became increasingly concerned about his intermittent abdominal problems and gradual weight loss. The family pediatrician thought Brad might have heartburn or acid reflux and prescribed antacids, but nothing really helped.

“Brad looked emaciated,” Laurel said. “He wasn’t able to eat enough to maintain his weight.”

Brad also began to suffer episodes of vomiting, fever and stomach pain, resulting in numerous trips to the doctor’s office.

Two years ago when Brad was 10, his medical problems came to a head. During school spring break, Brad experienced fever, vomiting and constipation accompanied by dehydration and stomach spasms. Laurel was alarmed and took Brad, in severe pain, immediately to the doctor.

When an X-ray and an ultrasound performed that day showed nothing abnormal, the doctor suggested getting blood work done. It was the blood test that finally revealed that something was seriously wrong. The doctor thought it could be pancreatitis or gall bladder disease and told Laurel to take Brad directly to Texas Children’s Hospital.

When they arrived at Texas Children’s, Brad was admitted. Dr. Ferry, director of Texas Children’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center, ran a series of tests. Not one, including a CAT scan and an MRI, identified a clear problem. But Dr. Ferry noticed that Brad had mouth ulcers, usually an indicator of an internal disorder.

During Brad’s hospitalization, Dr. Ferry performed the boy’s first colonoscopy. Although the swelling on Brad’s colon from esophageal ulcers prevented Dr. Ferry from completing the procedure, what he saw confirmed definitively that Brad had Crohn’s disease, a manifestation of IBD.

Laurel said, "It was frightening to hear that Brad had Crohn's disease but comforting to learn he could finally get some treatment and relief."

Brad was treated immediately with prednisone, which dramatically decreased his colon’s swelling, and has been treated for and living with IBD ever since.

Besides receiving therapeutic treatment for the daily control and flare-ups of Crohn’s disesase, Brad and his family receive support on Brad’s nutritional issues from Texas Children’s IBD Center. Training provides Laurel with the skill to administer a complex array of foods for Brad and monitor their fiber content for different stages of the disease.

Though bothered at times by the hip and joint pain that frequently accompanies IBD, Brad, now 12 and in 7th grade, participates enthusiastically in football. He finds that his group of friends has changed but enjoys the new friends he has made at school and through Texas Children’s Crohn’s and Colitis Camp.

“Dr. Ferry and Texas Children’s IBD clinic staff are helpful in every way,” Laurel said. “I wouldn’t take Brad for treatment anywhere else.”