Our son Matthew was born in December of 2019. Shortly after he was born, our trips to the ER seemed never ending. January of 2020 was when Matthew started having stomach issues. He had problems taking his bottle and also had a lot of problems with spit up. All doctors we spoke to about our… Read More »Matthew’s Story
Can you tell us about what happened to Zoey’s pancreas? Zoey’s pancreatic injury happened on July 22, 2020. It was an extremely hot day, so Zoey and her brother, Zachary, were inside for most of the day. After dinner, they asked to go outside and ride their bikes. We live in an area where there… Read More »Zoey’s Story
Ezra was 9-years-old when he had his first pancreatitis attack. In this story, his parents recount his journey with pancreatitis, how they learned to advocate for their son, and provide advice for caregivers going through the same situation. It happened suddenly. Very early one morning, I received a phone call from Ezra’s friend’s mom. Ezra… Read More »Ezra’s Story
Bella’s Mission to Help Kids Like Her Most every kid deals with a fear of monsters at some point. Monsters under the bed or in the closet. Monsters in movies or books that later make a special guest appearance in our dreams. As a carefree 12-year-old, Bella was almost a teenager—old enough to know that… Read More »Bella’s Story
Mental Health and Pancreas DiseaseBy Jenny Jones, Pancreatitis Patient Advocate I started getting sick with pancreatitis when I was in third grade, 9 years old. This disease impacted me physically and mentally. I was in excruciating pain, unable to gain weight, feeling alone, misunderstood, and very different. As a result, I became anxious and depressed. As a … Read More »Jenny’s Story
My pancreatitis journey began in 2017; although at first – I didn’t know it was pancreatitis. It began with a stabbing pain that shot through my back. Since I’ve had four back surgeries, I thought the pain could be orthopedic in nature. I saw my orthopedist and began by getting lumbar shots, acupuncture and physical… Read More »Edmund’s Story
Ever since I can remember I’ve not felt well and often this feeling was accompanied by severe pain and recurring hospital visits. For most of my youth, I spent about several weeks of every year missing school or being in the hospital. Most of the time in horrible pain that made me wish someone could… Read More »Dean’s Story
My name is Meaghan. I live in Philadelphia with my husband Steve and my son Teddy. My journey with pancreatitis began in 1993 when I was 8 years old and hospitalized at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for acute pancreatitis. Just a few months before that, my older sister had her first attack of… Read More »Meaghan’s Story
A dream of science is to discover medicines which make surgical operations unnecessary. Drugs which reverse genetic defects or medicines which cure malignancy have evolved from science fiction to reality for many diseases. But not so for most pancreatic diseases. There is still no approved drug to treat pancreatitis, and the search for drugs or… Read More »A scientific advance makes an operation obsolete – The story of Betty
My name is Michele Walsh, daughter of Jim Arrow. My Dad was 63 years old when his journey of three years with pancreatitis began. Who was Jim Arrow? He was a hard-working business owner of James A. Arrow Plumbing since 1986. His smile and laugh lit up a room and was the guy everyone loved. He… Read More »In Memory: Michele’s Story