Location: High School Lobby
Time: 9 am to 4 pm

My name is Kim Hines. My 7 year old son Jack looks like a typical kid. He’s funny, quick to crack a joke or play a prank. He’s one of those kids that just make you smile. what you don’t see is that his body has been going haywire. On valentines day 2018 we found out he has Cerebral Palsy and a tethered spinal cord. Most of his current problems started when he had surgery to release it a month later. The doctors believe that he had an underlying Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) dysfunction which was very mild. When the spinal cord was released it aggravated all the connecting nerves causing the ANS to go haywire. The ANS controls the bodily functions you don’t have to think about, blood pressure, heart beat, sweat, pupil focus, ect. Jack has a variety of symptoms that effect his daily life, chronic chest and tummy pain, tacchardia, blood pressure instability. He gets “weak and shaky” and feels something similar to vertigo. He has Gastroparesis (slow emptying of the stomach) and encopresis (huge colon) due to chronic constipation. His whole digestion system is slow and he has a cecostomy tube so he can go to the bathroom regularly. His bladder is huge and doesn’t work properly. He doesn’t sweat and his body temperature regulation often doesn’t function as it should. His skin is often mottled and he’ll occasionally turn blue. He needs to have specialized tests that are only available for children his age at a handful of places in the country. His health insurance will not cover it and most are not accepting new patients. The Dysautonomia Center of Excellence had a space opened up for him on Nov 11th. I’m hoping to raise as much as i can to help fund these tests and hopefully provide some relief for my little boy. There is no cure, but the tests will tell us exactly what systems are effected and we’ll be able to determine what meds and therapies can help to stabilize his little body. Any help you can give will be so gratefully appreciated and funds will only be used for his benefit.

You can also donate on Jack’s Go Fund Me page