Out of the frying pan and into the fire

It’s been almost a month since my last post and since then things have been pretty steady overall. Walker continuing to improve a little each day and family healing a little each day slowly returning to a “new” normal. Walker gaining more independence, driving a lot by himself going to rehab, out with friends some, picking up his sister from school and so on. Candy needing to take care of Walker full time managing appointments, oxygen deliveries, dialysis appts, medication schedule, taking stats regularly etc….. We are coping well and adapting to life in 2019-20.

I say into the fire because since late July early August we have had many people contacting us about Walkers situation asking to interview him and us. So far we have had the FDA, Fox News, ABC, NBC, People magazine, and an NBC documentary all either at the house or by Skype or by phone. We are glad to share about this situation as our hope is to save one other family from having to experience this awful drama. We can only share what we have experienced in that Walker had been vaping seriously for at least 4 months, he had same symptoms as the other patients admitted with acute respiratory syndrome (ARS), and he acquired a very mean virus on top of his compromised lungs.

The doctors were surprised, dismayed, and confused that this 19yr old athlete could be taken out so hard by this Adenovirus which normally would have laid him up for a time in ICU care but not have killed him as it would have if this occurred 5 years ago. They searched through his system for a month at least trying to find an underlying cause but found none. They suspected he must have bone marrow cancer or another type of cancer to react this way to the Adenovirus but they found none. We suspected from the beginning that his vaping played a part in this but we did not think much of it till news story after news story started to break in May, June, July, to present.

So now we are members of PAVE (parents against vaping & e-cigarettes) that recently met with the President at a vaping summit. Walker, Candy, and I are included in a People Magazine story about 9 sick people with issues tied to vaping. The bottom line is that the FDA did not require testing of the flavored Juul products nor any other vaping products that we are aware of and the public is suffering the consequences. And the medical community is just starting to figure out this is a problem within last 6-9 months. Now it’s a huge problem that unfortunately will be around a long time especially since the government moves very slowly against the big tobacco industry.

It’s safe to say that telling your friends and family to steer clear of vaping for their health for now is wise until the medical community can figure out what the heck is happening with this stuff. We will certainly keep doing our part by telling our story. Today, our story is that we are very! Thankful on this thanksgiving to have our boy, Walker, with us. We had the pleasure of taking him to one of his most favorite restaurants, Kobe Steak house, on Monday, his/our first time out with him since January. We thank God for our happy healthy daughter Laura that is loving her school Geneva and her cheer team, Senior White, a Top Gun team. And super thankful for a wonderful supportive family, great friends, and a beautiful Christian community that has our back in the toughest of times.

We give thanks to God for saving Walkers life!! We give thanks for living in the greatest country in the world, our USA. Happy Thanksgiving to you all and thank you for your love & support of our family. Amen and Amen.