Brisan and Parker Stults | Living with Niemann-Pick Type C

Posts Tagged ‘Stults’

We wanted to tell everyone Merry Christmas! We have been appreciative of your support, prayers, and love you've shared with us! It is hard to believe we are entering 2013. The boys have been doing O.K. recently. Brisan is officially home bound from school until we look at the circumstances again in the spring. Parker lately has been having a lot of seizures :(. Duncan is a man on a mission with his “barines” (marines) and “army guys”….

Merry Christmas 2012

When me and Jennifer first started dating, she took me to a place her family had been going to for quite some time. The restaurant is a Chinese place called Hunan Gardens in Liberty, Missouri. Frankly, it was the first time that I was pleased to eat that kind of food. Before I had no real interest in eating anything other than “meat & potatoes”.

The owner's and staff were always so friendly. They shared with us the times we would visit including the births of Brisan & Parker. Over the years since we've moved about 35 minutes away, we've not been very much at all although we always say it is our favorite “chinese restaurant”.

Brisan and Parker over the years and shortly after Duncan was born, they loved to chow down on crab rangoons and veggies! Brisan when he was still speaking called them “cacoons”. Parker just hoovered his way through carrots and peas!

Since their diagnosis back in August of 2008, we have been coming less and less. Mainly due to the coordination and all the extra effort it is to pack up wheelchairs and the whole “semi like” approach to going anywhere anymore. We had dropped little Duncan off at grandma's and papa's house so he could have some quality time with them. Afterwards we stopped by because it was close.

That was the first time in probably 2-3 years we had been their with Brisan & Parker. Check out the video below on how they are trying to eat some of their old favorites. Due to Niemann-Pick Type C disease, the affects of it all as you can see are weighing in as they struggle to hold and complete the normal functions of eating that so many of us by default take for granted.

Aren't they so cute? Just want to squeeze em'!

Just wanted to share a few pictures with all of you. On Friday, March 16th, Brisan & Parker's whole class went outside to play a little kickball! Parker every Friday morning has physical therapy down at CMH so Jennifer drops him off about mid morning for school. Parker wasn't too excited at times. He never likes anyone touching him much. So funny really… little crab cakes at times. I guess I can't blame him. Jennifer said just watching them out with their class mad her want to cry! Brisan waddled around the bases as well and he was even kill most of the time!

Duncan went to grammy and papa's house Friday and papa took him fishing for the first time! He caught 4 fish and said that the worms were “slimy”. What a funny kid!

Here are the pictures!

KickBall

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Mr. Parker turned 6 on Sunday January 8^th! We are very proud of our little man! For the last 3 years I have been out of town for work and haven’t physically been here to wish him Happy Birthday! Every year is so special to us!

Saturday the14th we are having a “Beach Party” theme at our house for Parker and Duncan. His birthday is January 28^th, so he has to share his together with everyone. I am sure as he gets older he may prefer to have his own shindig.

Last Saturday Brisan decided it would be cool to visit the ER again. I left that Saturday for Las Vegas but the poor kid had not went to sleep the previous evening. That is literally no joke. I think he was preparing for college or some stuff…

He went into the ER for what they discovered was ileus. First time for everything hey? Just a lot of discomfort but we think it he is on the amends.

 “Ileus (adynamic or paralytic ileus) is a type of bowel obstruction that occurs when the intestines stop moving normally even though there is nothing blocking them. This prevents the digestion of food and the movement of waste out of the body.” [WebMD]

Next week Jennifer will graduate with her BS in Applied Behavioral Analysis!

It's been about a month since we last updated the world as we know it. For our 501(c)3, the Niemann-Pick Children's Fund, we have been busy trying to orchestrate our Vegas Casino Night on November 11, 2011 at the Hilliard Art Gallery in the Crossroads district of down town Kansas City, MO. Challenging at times because we are already fighting an uphill battle with a disease that no one particularly knows about. It could be better if the boys had cancer or something because more people would understand much faster. When people ask, it is hard not to give a slightly longer answer to “what is it?”. I know people close to us have a slight difficulty answering that question because they aren't as versed in the subject as me and Jennifer. That is quite OK. It isn't something we should necessarily be experts in. You know? We are thankful for those of you that show us support.

We have a special quest attending our Vegas Casino Night. Matthew Lesko will be in town. Here is the press release that Evans Media Group typed up: http://pressreleases.kcstar.com/?q=node/69623

We are still hoping to sell a good portion of tickets this week. Also challenging is in planning for catering and the beverage area when most folks are choosing to wait at the last minute or even at the door. Now that isn't being negative because I understand. So we are attempting to move forward and do the best facilitating the event. You can purchase your ticket here: http://www.NPCFund.org/VegasNight.

The Dudes

Brisan has been back to school for about a month now after his August debacle with this health. He has been doing much better. We had an incident about 3 weeks ago where one of our nurse's was allowing Brisan to walk around  and he somehow fell and fractured his pelvis! We have been trying to keep him off of it as much as possible. I think he may be OK but Jennifer was gone and I was upstairs working when I heard the nurse calling for me. Either way I was upset at the situation because it shouldn't have happend. I remember when he broke his leg back in 07'… that was a huge turning point and set back for Brisan.

Parker has continually been having his seizures but doing good. It seems like he is quietly slipping away because he doesn't have the crazy health things come up like Brisan does. Still giving those little smiles and being “mr. stinky”. He doesn't walk around very well. At home we don't allow him to try to walk around much. About a month ago I had him stand up and he got a big smile while I was holding his left arm…he dropped like a crumbling tower without any notice. Just can't have that be happening, you know? At school they both get physical therapy and Parker gets it once a week at Children's Mercy Hospital.

Duncan is a joy. He seems to display being very intelligent and smart. He picks up on things quickly. He still does have some slight challenges but nothing compared to Brisan and Parker. We'll take it! Duncan is very imaginative and is loving his Transformers. He was Optimus Prime for halloween.

Gavin Lopez

Our dear friends Kristen and Fernando Lopez of Little Elm, TX lost their little champ Gavin to Niemann-Pick Type C disease on October 30, 2011 around 9am. Jennifer went down this past week to lend her support and love to help them out. Although it is really a preview into our future, they became good friends and it was the right thing to do to show support. It just happen to work out for us to do so. Please also say a pray for their family that they find comfort with their loss.

We lost 3 precious souls this past 1.5 weeks to Niemann-Pick. http://nnpdf.org/aboutus_14.html

Last July 2010, my parents (Mike) helped organize a fundraiser for Brisan & Parker. During that time through mutual friends they were introduced to Hazel Kinder who lives in Columbia, MO. That is about 1-1.15 hrs from Kansas City. During the late 80's through the late 90's she lost 3 of her son's to Niemann-Pick Type C disease.

I can't imagine going through this whole situation during that time when the internet was just getting started and networking to find support with other families. We are thankful that she wanted to be apart of our story and journey.

KOMU.com out of Columbia, MO did a small story on the event.