Logan's Story
Hi. I am Wanda Thibodeau, and I live near Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. My son, Logan, developed the symptoms of juvenile Arthritis very quickly in early April of 1998 when he was 10 years old. No one knows what triggers arthritis. One Thursday, he had a sore throat and stayed home from school. By Saturday, he couldn't walk nor put any weight on his legs, but could walk with crutches. By May, he was diagnosed with a type of juvenile Arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis. This Arthritis usually affects males in their late teens to twenties and can lead to the permanent fusing of the spine.

Logan's bus ride to school was more than an hour, and he would hurt so badly by the time he got there that we would frequently have to go pick him up and bring him back home. He only attended school six more days in the remainder of that school year.

In September 1998 we encouraged Logan to try to go to school each day. We would get him up at six o'clock to soak him a half-hour in a hot bath, just so he could get moving enough to get dressed. Some days, he would only get as far as the front steps and sit there, watching the bus pull away without him because he was hurting too much to walk to the end of the driveway.

Many days we would get a call from school to come and pick him up, because Logan couldn't make it through the day. He increased his Prednisone and was put on an immunotherapy drug called Methotrexate, which he learned to inject weekly. In addition, he was on Indomethacin (NSAID). The needles hurt, and the Methotrexate burned as it went in. He did the injections on Saturdays, and on Fridays he would be getting sick to his stomach just thinking about it. When the doctor asked him when the Methotrexate made him sick he said, "About an hour before I inject it." Though we all laughed, the nurse and the doctor said that was quite common.

In April of 1999, the Kiwanis Club of Owen Sound donated a special chair to Logan so he could stay in his classroom and rest rather than go to the Health Room. That got his picture published in the local newspaper. Peggy Adam, from Chatsworth, wrote to me. She said she knew some products that were helping a lot of people, and said maybe they could help Logan. Logan started taking them, and slowly was able to start cutting back on his medications. He began to take Methotrexate orally, rather than by injection, and gradually decreased the Prednisone.

If I have one regret, it is in not giving him more of the natural products sooner. I think he would have become better a lot more quickly. When he was given Firm (a body toner), we saw the pain in his joints decrease quickly. He had started to have pain and stiffness in his hands and had plastic braces to wear at night. About two weeks after getting them (but also using Firm each night), Logan said, "Were those braces you bought really expensive? I don't think I need them anymore, but if they were expensive I will keep using them." The braces have not come out since.

As of January 1, 2001, Logan came off all medications. He now takes 1/4 tsp of glyconutrients and phytonutrients, along with 1 phytoserol caplet each day. If he is having a strenuous day, he will also take a natural anti-inflammatory. If he misses that, he finds the pain and stiffness begin to come back. He has lost the puffy 'Moonface' and belly that comes with Prednisone.

Logan is now playing basketball and participating in track and field! He came in fifth in the 800 metre event!

Logan's old personality is also back. When he was in pain, it took all of his energy and concentration just to get through one more hour, one more day. We have our little boy back, just in time to become a teenager. What a treat, to see him teasing at his sister's bedroom door then take off running so she can't catch him! Though we never gave up hope that he would get better, we wondered if he would ever get through another day without pain, or if he would be able to walk properly, let alone run!


I hope this encourages you to believe that there's always hope, no matter how bleak things may look. Thousands of people have received wonderful help through the same functional foods that have helped my Logan. I urge you to try them.

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