Hero of a Different Kind!

This past Memorial Day, we celebrated our fallen Hero's and those that serve to protect our freedoms.  It is rather humbling to know so many have fought for the freedoms that we have today.

But, today, I am humbled for a different reason and am in awe of a different kind of Hero!  My son!  He hasn't fought in a war or even served in the military, but he fights a battle every day.

About a year ago this June, he fractured his femur.  It was a major break to a major bone in the body.  His thigh bent in half like another knee! YUKK...I have to cringe as I remember crying with him while he was in pain.  He had surgery to insert a rod from his hip to his knee. Thus began a year long recovery.

Because of the nature of the break, there we questions as to how it happened.  The reality is, he was laid up for 6 weeks prior to that for what they thought was a knee injury.  He was waiting or his insurance company to approve an MRI.  He is on Medicaid and they take quite a while for their approval process on some things.  After 6 weeks of being in a knee brace and hopping around on crutches, he sat down in a chair in his room and his thigh snapped like a twig!

Of course, the femur is the largest and strongest bone in your body and you really have to be doing a lot to break it.  Therefore, the doctors were very curious and started testing him for bone cancer and other factors that could lead to such weak bone.

After months of recuperating from the surgery, they started the long process of determining what caused it.  It turns out that my son, at age 26 has severe Osteoporosis, his thyroid is affected and testosterone levels with a severe vitamin D deficiency.  In a bone density test, they determined that his bones are that of a 65 - 70 year old with Osteoporosis.  People automatically associate this disease with older people and think, they have medicine that they can take for that, no big deal.  It is a big deal, especially for someone who is only 26 years old and is facing life in a wheel chair within the next 6 to 10 years.

This disease is most commonly noted among women of advanced age with hormone deficiency due to menopause or surgically induced by having ovaries removed.  However, men can also get this disease when testosterone levels are low and there are other causes as well.

Right now, David's bones look like Swiss Cheese and he is at HIGH risk of fracture at any moment.  One fracture, a really bad one, could put him down for quite a while, especially if it is in the back.  

Having a 2 year old daughter and a part time job for now, he tries to go about life as normal as he can, but life for him can change in the blink of an eye. 

We are working with his doctors to get a much needed drug approved through his insurance for him, it is costly and nothing we could even help him afford.  But at this moment, they have denied him several times.  It is one of the only treatments that will help him build his bone back to a healthy level in a two year treatment.  But, Medicaid is his insurance and the will not pay for it.  

As we sit and wait for the red tape to be cut, we have no idea what is in store.  I can't tell you how I admire you David for your patience and strength without knowing the outcome or your future!  I love you with all of my heart and soul and would move Heaven and earth for you, were it possible.  

Dad and I Love you David!