On March 2, 2008 our family’s life was turned upside down when we took our little 4-year-old boy (Evan) to the hospital with what seemed like a harmless sore tummy and possibly appendicitis. Shortly after arriving at the hospital Evan went into surgery and had has his appendix removed. His appendix was fine. Evan never woke up from his anaesthetic, was moved into the ICU, and went into a coma for about a week.

It took a couple days after his surgery to diagnose him with a neurological disease called Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis or ADEM. It’s basically like a very acute form of Multiple Sclerosis.
However, recent test results from a muscle biopsy indicate that Evan likely has an underlying mitochondrial condition. We are waiting for more test results to confirm the diagnosis, but the MRI and muscle biopsy are indicative of a mitochondrial disease. This is considered a degenerative disease and there is no cure. ADEM is still the working diagnosis, and the more detailed testing will likely just put a name to it.

One year later, Evan has made some small gains, but still has a lot of seizures and has a long road of recovery ahead of him. We do not know how much or even if he will improve.

We are still trying to understand what this disease means to Evan and what we can do to improve his life. Needless to say, our lives have changed forever. We are adjusting to our new lives and still dealing with the ups and downs of this rollercoaster every day. It’s very hard.

This website has been set up to keep friends, family, and co-workers up to date on his progress.

We have begun our fundraising efforts to help improve Evan's quality of life (through alternative treatments, therapies and home improvements for wheel chair accessibility). Click on the Wiki pages on the left hand side of the screen for updates, info about ADEM, video clips of progress, Fundraising, Donations, etc.)