Making connections: Bonded by short bowel syndrome

At the top of the dual slide, 4-year-old Brayden Austin is buzzing with energy, excited to go careening down to the bottom. Yet he waits patiently until a towheaded boy joins him on the neighboring chute. Two-year-old Camden Glover is a little nervous. But Brayden grabs his hand and the pair sails to the ground together, squealing with delight. It’s a typical playground scene, but also an apt metaphor for the boys’ special connection. The two children — one from Maine, one from Tennessee — have a close friendship. But they might never have met if not for one life-threatening event. Parallel lives  It was March 7, 2015, and the Glover family was in crisis. Just one day old, their son, Camden, was vomiting blood and bile. What should have been a time of celebration quickly turned to chaos as the newborn was flown to the local children’s hospital in North Carolina, where the family was living at the time. There, he was diagnosed with intestinal malrotation and volvulus. In this frightening disorder, the intestines twist, cutting off blood supply to the small bowel. As a result, some 85 percent of his small intestines had to be surgically removed, leaving the little boy with short bowel syndrome, a rare but serious condition that prevents the body from extracting the nutrients it needs to survive. The Glovers didn’t know it yet, but at that moment, nearly a thousand miles north, the Austin family was experiencing a very similar medical emergency. Eighteen months old...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories Center for Advanced Intestinal Rehabilitation Dr. Bram Raphael Dr. Mark Puder intestinal malrotation Omegaven short bowel syndrome (SBS). TPN Source Type: news