ROHHAD Research

Meet Chance One of Our Inspiring ROHHAD Warriors- blog written by his mum Amy this is his Rare Reality

Meet Chance one of our Inspiring ROHHAD Warriors this blog was written by his mum Amy to help raise awareness for Rare Disease Day 2019 - This is Chances #RareReality

"In September of 2003 my life changed drastically. I gave birth to a miracle! Chance was born with several rare disorders including Septo Optic Dysplasia, Panhypopituitarism, Cerebral palsy, Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum and Bilateral Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia.
After a month’s stay in the NICU, I brought this fragile little boy home. How was I going to take care of him and give him the best opportunity at a wonderful life? But Chance taught me more than I would ever learn in medical books, on medical websites or from his doctors. He taught me how to LIVE! How to enjoy the little things in life and truly learn to not sweat the small stuff!

In 2006, when Chance was 3 years old, he began to gain weight at a rapid rate. In June he was 42lbs and by December he was nearly 100 lbs. I researched, hunted, begged and pleaded with doctors of all specialties to help me figure out what was going on with him. No one could give me an answer.

Chance continued to gain weight just not at such a rapid pace. In 2011, Chance began to have issues breathing. It was like he forgot to breath and his lips would turn purplish blue and he’d nearly pass out. I consulted his doctors and after a friend showed me a website about ROHHAD I took that information to his endocrinologist. He consulted with a pulmonologist and they agreed that they believe ROHHAD is the cause for the weight gain as well as the breathing issues. Thus, he was diagnosed clinically with ROHHAD (Rapid Onset Obesity with Hypothalamic Dysregulation, Hypoventilation, and Autonomic Dysregulation.)

Over the past 8 years Chance has continued to gain weight despite special diets and medication that should have at least slowed down it down. It’s a daily battle to maintain homeostasis within his body. He can’t regulate his body temperature, he deals with adrenal insufficiency in which a common cold could land him in the hospital, he is developmentally delayed and is not ambulatory and is in a wheelchair.

Despite all these things stacked against him, Chance has thrived and flourished into a smart, handsome young man (He’s 15, OMG!) who has a heart of gold and a deeply compassionate soul! He is my inspiration in all that I do and all that I am.

Chance is currently a straight A student in the 10th grade at Ballard Memorial High School where his older brother and sister graduated from. He is in a special needs class, but he is pulled out to attend a general education World Civilization class. Our school and community have been amazing at including him in whatever he wishes to do.
He aspires to be a police officer or anything that has to do with the police force. He loves watching videos on YouTube, playing with his mardi gras beads and collecting Hot Wheels. He loves his family, friends, teachers and school. He knows he’s smart, loves his personality and his baby blue eyes. Once you meet him, your life will forever be changed.

ROHHAD desperately needs more research! With 100 or so children affected by its monstrous symptoms currently, it’s so rare it just doesn’t get the publicity it needs. The ROHHAD Association is currently working hard to raise money to help gain this needed research. We have the help of Robert Downey Jr. in bringing our needs to the front of the world so more people know about our precious children. If you are reading this and want to help go to www.rohhadassociation.com "

#RareReality
#ShareYourRare
#GoMadForROHHAD
#ROHHADAwareness
#FindACure

4

Meet Harper, One of Our Inspiring ROHHAD Warriors, This is her Rare Reality Blog written by Mum Chelsey

Meet Harper one of our Inspiring ROHHAD Warriors, this blog was written by her mum Chelsey to help raise awareness for Rare Disease Day 2019 this is Harpers #RareReality

"Harper Pursley is 6 years old and lives in Rathdrum, Idaho. Shortly after her 4th birthday we started noticing changes in her. She gained about 25 pounds in 4 months, she was exhausted all the time, and she presented with severe social anxiety. We contacted her primary care provider, and unlike most of our other ROHHAD kids, he listened to me and didn't play off her symptoms as a "growth spurt" or us over feeding her.

We started testing for everything our doctor could think of...blood draws, MRIs, echocardiogram, ultrasound, xrays, and what finally gave us our first real glimpse at our diagnosis was a sleep study. Her study showed Harper's O2 levels dropping into the 50s. That's when Harper's doctor first told us he thought it may be ROHHAD.

The next day we were sent home with an oxygen concentrator and instructed to use it whenever Harper slept. Two days after that, I walked in her room to Harper making almost a choking noise. She was unresponsive and it took us 15 minutes to get her to open her eyes. We were then transported to our local ER where the pediatric specialist on call made the decision to life flight Harper to Seattle Children's hospital to get our formal diagnosis and initiate her Bipap.

As crazy as those next days were, there wasn't a better place for us to be. We were set up with a pulmonologist and an endocrinologist who we absolutely love. Harper was initiated on bipap without issue, though her settings are quite high. Our plan was travel to Seattle everything 3 months for sleep study appointments with our specialists, and multiple tests to check for any abnormalities.

Everything was going somewhat smoothly, only small hiccups here and there, but her sodium was always an issues. In May of 2018 Harper became lethargic at daycare and could not walk properly. I immediately took her to our local ER where we found she had a massive drop in sodium. From there we transported to the local children's hospital where she had multiple grand mal seizures before she was sedated then intubated. After this stay, thankfully we have not had a drop again...but unfortunately with ROHHAD it is only a matter of time.

Our struggle is not just when we have big issues that cause hospital stays. Our struggle is EVERY DAY. Every day I wonder if this is it. Because honestly it could be. Our kids lives are cut short with no prior warning. If we hadn't been at a hospital when Harper started seizing she could be gone right now. My daughter was only saved because we were at the right place at the right time. Next time I may not be so lucky.

Our kids do not deserve this. These parents hurt. We hide and silently cry so our kids don't have to see us. We are strong so our kids believe in themselves, so they can be strong. Our children need help. These families need help and support. We need a cure for this terrible disease. Please help us Find A Cure."

#HopeForHarper #FightWithHarper
#RareReality
#GoMadForROHHAD
#RareDiseaseDay 2019
#FindACure
#RohhadAwareness
#ShareYourRare

2

Meet Colby One of our Inspiring ROHHAD Warriors, this is his Rare Reality Written by his mum Janka

Meet Colby Luis Palomeque Marica 8 years old from Pennsylvania USA, one of our Inspiring ROHHAD Warriors. This is his blog written by his mum Janka.

"Colby was born on a rainy Friday morning. Since his before his other ROHHAD symptoms began Colby has suffered from profound sweating, GI issues, recurrent fevers, hormonal inbalances, unexplained weight gain, snoring and choking while sleeping since he was born.

Even though Colby had difficulty eating, he would become very swollen sometimes severely and suffered from excruciating pain, and he was also very very active, it seemed almost impossible for him to just sit and be still for even a minute. Colby then kept gaining a lot of weight, which made no sense to me as he was so active and did not eat too much.

I was to learn a lot later that when Colby was about 9 months old his doctors already thought of ROHHAD SYNDROME, but it was a bit unusual to have symptomps since birth. I have also since realised that there is really Nothing USUAL about this horrible illness!

So I just tried to figure out what was making Colby sick and would ask the doctors to look at his symptoms together and him as one rather than each symptom separately. He hold see a lot of different doctors for each symptom he had. This changed when Colby was about 2.2 years old and we went to a diffrent hospital to see an Infectious Disease doctor, by that time the weight gain seemed unstoppable. Colby also suffered from inability to regulate his own body temperature, inability to feel thirst, high BP, high heart beat, high or low ability to feel pain and more, after hearing about Colby and listening to me about all of his symptoms, not only related to his speciality, he said he would do some research.

This doctor went to a conference a few years back and heard of one really rare orphan disease, he then contacted Colby's main doctor and that was the very first time they had and I had heard of ROHHAD SYNDROME.

Colby was diagnosed on April 24th 2015.

It is very hard to watch your child suffer and not been able to help and as Colby is fighting more and more to just keep walking he never gives up!

Colby loves sports, any sport really, he is a huge fan of Lionel Messi and he dreams of becoming a proffesional football player and play for FC Barcelona one day. He loves to run and giggle, but his body just does not have the strength to let Colby play for too long.

Colby receives tons of therapies to make him feel better and to keep him moving. He does Art therapy, Animal and horse therapies help with behaviour issues related to ROHHAD and anxiety - which is sadly related to being bullied and made fun of due to his weight and this is so upsetting to see him go through as the bullying has given him unnecessery stress and has even made his condition worse as his symptoms worsen when under stress, his body cannot produce the stress hormone very well.

Colby goes each year to Florida to spend a week with dolphins and get some warm fresh air that is so important for his lungs as he suffers from hypoventilation, lung disease and asthma.

Colby went to Hawaii for his Make-A-Wish trip as he wished to see the volcanoes!

We will keep fighting ROHHAD! But we need help to do so and my wish is that one day we find a cure to stop all the children with rohhad from suffering and stop anymore children from gaining their angel wings. Please help the children if you can.
Janka mum to brave rohhad warrior "
#RareReality
#GoMadForROHHAD
#ShareYourRare
#RareDiseaseDay 2019
#RohhadAwareness

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