David Jaszkowiak David & Maria Jaszkowiak

David was born 6 May 2016 with a rare form of Hirschsprung Disease; he was born with only 15cm of intestine with the nerve cells that allow food to move through his bowels.  

David is home after living his first 9 months in the hospital!  We’ve tried numerous strategies to get use from a portion of his nonfunctioning bowel these first years with periods of success. Now he has just his functional gut left, but still faces an uncertain road ahead as we try to preserve the use of his remaining gut for the joy of eating, other bodily organ sustainability and immune health.  Infections, organ failures, and intestinal blockages are common for children with this degree of severity.   David's entire large intestine, 90% of his small intestine, his gallbladder, and appendix have been removed.  He is 100% IV nutrition dependent, but is able to consume many foods.

Some ask, why not get a transplant?  Well...small bowel/liver transplants are never desired, because success rates are iffy, 50/50 long-term survival, but sometimes it becomes necessary.  Usually once central line access is nearly lost, from TPN induced organ damage, or recurrent severe illnesses.  David is doing very well with what he has right now!  We hope to have David's intestines work for him for a great many years and for a miraculous healing/regeneration!

We are so grateful for the outpouring of support and prayers for David and our entire family.  Thank you friends, family, coworkers, doctors, and nurses!  Without a doubt, God has a plan for David and us.  It's been a wild ride, and hopefully, this is just the beginning of our wonderful life with this adorable child.

We are praying for David's miraculous healing through the intercession of Michelle Duppong, a former FOCUS missionary who bravely and faithfully battled colon cancer and passed on Christmas of 2015.  (We have some prayer request cards made and she had a caringbridge site.)

We also request our friends and family pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for David's strength and for the conversion of souls.   

Maria - It was discovered not long after David's birth that Maria also has Hirschsprung Disease, though only a small portion of her colon was affected.  In the Fall of 2016 she underwent a routine surgery to have a pull-through procedure done, removing a short segment of her affected colon.  But, a few days later she experienced a serious complication which resulted in sepsis and Maria had to undergo an emergency surgery for an ileostomy and drains  were placed in her abdomen.  Many months later, she was still dealing with the effects of that complication and endured numerous additional procedures, surgeries, and has gone through a gamut of nutritional and stooling regimens while her body has slowly healed.  We are hopeful that Maria's biggest hurdles are  now over and that she will go on to live a relatively normal life! HD is a  disease that has certain  life long impacts..   So please also keep her in your prayers!