Zebra Diagnosis

There's a medical saying "when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras." However, in Kreed's case, he has always been a zebra and in the past week, we know how rare of a zebra he is. So rare his doctor said you won't find another person in the state of Colorado with it. There are few people over all in the world with it. 

For those that don't know, Kreed's development was fairly normal until he was 3. Kreed spoke. Had great motor control. Was a smiling, happy, rambunctious three year old. Then over the course of a year, Kreed lost everything. Motor control. All speech and language. Everything. Gone. 

Fast forward years later and things continue to go wrong in his body. Non-stop. Every single year he is hit with something new. He has had specialists follow him his whole life, most scratching their heads. He never fit a box. Never fits any box. Looks like autism, but not quite. Looks like so many things but not really. And his continual decline in health led many to believe it was mitochondrial or generic. But still no one could find it. No one could quite put their finger on it. Tests have always been run. MRI's, exnome sequencing, CAT scans, blood work, lumbar punctures. The list is endless. While everyone can find the diagnosis of the year, no one could find the thing that ties it all together. 

Then we moved to Colorado. Kreed has continued his decline, which also seems to have accelerated. More wrong in less time. More doctors and tests. Then one day, he loses the ability to walk completely. We are devastated and have no idea what has become of our life, his life. So we take him the Children's Hospital of Colorado. 

They are just as confused. They are just as lost to Kreed's sudden decline, but they want to find it. A world renowned metabolics Doctor comes to his room and starts to go through his records which we brought with us. And with the odds against it, he finds a pattern. The pattern leads to some tests. The tests lead to a possible diagnosis. After all these years and all these tests, one doctor, in one state, saw something no one else ever has. 

So here we are, waiting on some final tests to determine exactly what Kreed has. But it's the reason for his developmental delay, his neuropathy, seizures and a few other issues. Something he was born with that no one knew. And it was wreaked havoc in his body, not letting him live a normal life. And now we wait, to see if there is treatment and if there is, what that treatment can do for him, if anything. 

All these years we just wanted to know. We wanted to know what was taking our sweet boy from us, what was taking his mobility and motor skills. What took his speech forever. So we are sitting at Day 10 in the hospital, waiting to hear the next plan and the new diagnosis. Waiting to hear what life has in store for us next and what will happen to Kreed for the future. 

This picture depicts the area in Kreed's body with the dysfunction. We are waiting for the final diagnosis, could be one of five or six things or a new presentation of it. 

And this is the boy we hope to get back with treatment. 

And this is the state that held the one doctor (out of two) in the United States who even has a clue about this dysfunction in the body. Talk about luck in moving.