by\u00a0Est\u00e9 van Rensburg, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Representative
\nJoshua Benjamin van Rensburg was born on 24 February 1999 and was a relatively healthy baby except for having asthma, sinusitis and regular bronchitis.\u00a0 At the age of four our ENT doctor removed his tonsils.\u00a0 Nebulizers were often used on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
At the age of 9, he won a national tennis tournament for u\/10.\u00a0 The next year he participated in the national tennis tournament in Bloemfontein.\u00a0 The second evening of the tournament, he started with a sore throat and was up all night with gastro.\u00a0 I took him to the doctor who reported that Josh was fine and could play tennis.\u00a0 The next day he collapsed on the court, could hardly move and had a temperature of 40 degrees.\u00a0 We rushed him off to the local paediatrician who immediately admitted Joshua.\u00a0 Within a matter of hours he lost his voice and was struggling to breath.\u00a0 He was placed on a drip, was given oxygen and diagnosed with pneumonia and gastritis.<\/p>\n
He never fully recovered and landed in hospital with pneumonia 3 times within a matter of 3 months.\u00a0 After numerous blood tests, Joshua was diagnosed with hypogammaglobulinemia (more specifically CVID) and had to receive IVIG treatment (Polygam) every 4 weeks.\u00a0 He still regularly got ill with bronchitis and pneumonia.\u00a0 We eventually had to take him out of school and started home schooling.\u00a0 After seeing Dr. Monica Esser, she suggested Polygam every 3 weeks.\u00a0 He now receives Polygam every 3 weeks and does not regularly get ill.\u00a0 For two years, Joshua hardly grew (as this often stunts their growth), but he has now finally started growing after being on polygam treatment.<\/p>\n
After doing 6 months research on the diagnosis, I insisted that they test Joshua\u2019s sibling, Joel, seeing that there\u2019s a 25% chance of the sibling having the same.\u00a0 To our shock, Joel was diagnosed with the same.\u00a0 Joel was permanently ill with sinusitis, bronchitis and struggled to breath as a baby and toddler.\u00a0 Nebulizers were a daily routine.\u00a0 In fact, he was worse off than Joshua and struggled with permanent ear infections, but seemed to have got better since the age of 10.\u00a0 The blood tests revealed that his B-cells are \u201cfaulty\u201d and don\u2019t produce sufficient IgG and IgA.\u00a0 He does not yet receive Polygam, but we are checking his Ig levels on a regular basis and have taken him out of school to prevent regular exposure to germs and illnesses.<\/p>\n
At first, I tried to be calm and did so much research, joined every single Immune Foundation in the world and tried to keep their lives as normal as possible.\u00a0 Then, after two years, I had a bit of a breakdown, realizing that medically speaking there is no cure and they will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.\u00a0 My faith in God has picked me up and kept me strong and both boys have learnt that if they want to have a relatively normal life, they also need to take responsibility for their health.\u00a0 They walk around with hand sanitizers and use bactroban in their noses when going out.\u00a0 Their friends know not to have contact with them if they\u2019re ill.<\/p>\n
Both boys still play tennis and give 100% when they\u2019re well.\u00a0 They\u2019ve had to learn to listen to their bodies and not play tennis when they\u2019re not feeling 100%.\u00a0 It is incredible how strong children are and how easy they adapt IF we as parents are strong and show trust and faith in their abilities<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Their school, Grey Junior, has been incredibly supportive with the home schooling and often allows the boys to attend school for short periods.\u00a0 Both boys still play tennis for their school.\u00a0 The SANBS (SAn National Blood Service) approached me to assist them with their blood drive.\u00a0 They used Joshua\u2019s story and this has helped them to increase their blood donation numbers tremendously.\u00a0 Joshua\u2019s school also participated in the blood drive in support of Joshua and others.<\/p>\n We as parents need to speak out and make others aware of this as we owe it to our children and others suffering from the same illness.\u00a0\u00a0 If there is any one in the Eastern Cape whose children have a Primary Immune Deficiency Disorder, please contact me on 082 928 1057 or e-mail:\u00a0 careprom@mweb.co.za<\/p>\n Thank you to Joy Rosario and PINSA for all their support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by\u00a0Est\u00e9 van Rensburg, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Representative Joshua Benjamin van Rensburg was born on 24 February 1999 and was a relatively healthy baby except for having asthma, sinusitis and regular bronchitis.\u00a0 At the age of four our ENT doctor removed his tonsils.\u00a0 Nebulizers were often used on a regular basis. At the age of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[139,123,96],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-then_and_now","tag-joshua-van-rensburg","tag-patient","tag-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t