Update on Mr. B

On September 20th Brayden went to see Dr. Mazade at Cook Children's. We go to see Dr. Mazade every 3-6 months for blood work. Since Brayden's birth mom was Hepatitis C positive, we have watched him relatively closely. He has always tested negative and so David & I had just kind of checked this off our list as CLEAR! Dr. Mazade even mentioned that he really didn't intend to find anything this time around but we would test one more time at 18 months, as protocol.

On Monday, September 27th, a week later I had a message from Dr. Mazade and it didn't sound good. When we talked, he informed me that Brayden had tested positive for HCP RNA. We would re-test in 3 months but it was likely that it looked as if Brayden had contracted the Hepatitis C virus. After the call, David & I started researching and reading everything we could get our hands on about Hep C. Neither of us knew very much about it. It seems that out of all the Heps, it's the bad one. There is so much conflicting information out there and seems to be very limited on case studies actually done on infants. Mose cases were on adults that had either contracted Hep c from a blood transfusion or from shared needle use. Either way, the informatoin we were gathering wasn't very comforting.

Later that afternoon we had another consult with the doctor becuase we both had so so many questions. What kind of test had been done? Seems there are several ones out there. We found that B had had HCV RNA qualatative test. This means that it was a detection test only. There is a quantative test that tells how much viral load is in him and which genome type he has. Seems there are a few different variations of Hep C and this is important when it comes to treatments and liver affects. This will be determined by a liver biopsy later down the road. We asked about current treatment, however, the treatments that are currently available are too harsh for infants and there is currently no cure.

We are seeing a specialist this week that will help us with diet and some possible natural supplements that we pray will help support his liver during this time. There have been some case studies that have shown that infants do carry the ability to "clear" themselves of the virus, however, it is a very very small possibility. We are praying for that Jesus Christ makes that small possibility a reality in our little son's life.

Please pray that Brayden will clear himself of all HCV RNA.
Please pray that God will give us wisdom in caring for him and make evident any threats that we can protect his liver from and known any remedies that will support his immune system during this time.
Please pray for Dr. Bain and Dr. Masade as they make decisions for his health.
Please pray that Brayden will not contract Hepatitis C.

Standing in Grace,

Kelli, David, & BrayJ