Update from Zach

We love hearing updates from people. Here's one that came in recently:

"Hi! It's been a while, almost 10 years, and I thought it would be interesting to update you on our son's health. Zachary was born with Type C TEF which was surgically corrected at 3 days old. For the first 5 years we battled a lot with chest infections and pneumonias, both viral and bacterial. We thought we were going to lose him when he was 5 years old to a severe case of pneumonia, but he rallied and with the help of the local CCAC physiotherapists and a lot of antibiotics, he was able to overcome the pneumonia. Zach has also had problems with reflux and has been taking Prevacid for the past 18 months. Since he's been on this medication, we haven't had a re-occurances of chest infections or pneumonia! As a bonus his weight has increased from 52 pounds to over 60!! He also hasn't had to use his inhalers (Ventolin and Flovent) since he's been taking Prevacid. He's had a few minor colds, but they didn't settle in his chest like they used to do in the past. I did a little research and found that reflux is linked to chest infections. As TEF kids have a tendency towards reflux and chest infections, I thought I'd pass this info on if hasn't been already.

Today Zachary is a very active, well-spoken 10-year-old with a very strong will and a mind of his own. We occasionally see a chink in his
armour when a family member passes away (from old age). Recently, he's been very interested in his rough beginning and I've been putting
together a memory album with all the photos the nurses at Sick Kids in Toronto took, along with the get-well cards and doctors' notes about his conditions. This seems to have helped, because he knows we're not ashamed of his rough start in life and we show him how proud we are that he got through as an infant what most people never have to go through in their lifetimes. Sometimes we tend to forget how traumatic this all is since we've kind of taken it in stride and it's all he's ever known.

So I hope this information can help someone out there. Thank you for your support and newsletters in the past."

Thanks for the update!