National Jewish Health in Denver Saved My Son's Life

by Mary

Here is my story about my son and what helped him.

My son had eczema his whole life. When he was young we were able to maintain it with cortisone and moisturizing cream.

When he was in 9th grade he went into the school pool which caused his eczema to spread all over his body. I am talking about severe, severe eczema. For 3 years it was horrible. Shoulders, back, chest, buttocks, thighs, feet, hands, palms, face, eyelids were covered with eczema. He never had any form of relief. He would come home from school with ice packs on his legs and arms that the school nurse would give him.

He went through Prednisone multiple times, cyclosporine, antihistamines, steroids with very little relief. He was food tested for allergies and was positive to every food tested for. We tried gluten free diets. We tried palm, coconut oil, oat meal, clorox ,and vinegar bath, We tried wet pajamas. I read every blog and gave everything a go. We saw multi dermatologists and allergists, the "best" in New York.

I'm his mother and I'm a registered nurse, I wasn't giving up hope. But, I was scared when he said to me "I can't live my whole life like this." And I knew he couldn't.

In passing his doctor said about a hospital in Colorado that treats eczema. I live in NY and felt the best care should be here, but we went to Denver, Colorado to National Jewish Health. It's a hospital for children, and my son was 17 so still classed as a child. He was admitted as an outpatient for 10 days, although we both stayed overnight the first night. The other days we were there from 8am-4pm.

National Jewish Health has a program that teaches how to manage your eczema. They used a wet wrap treatment program which cleared up my sons eczema. After 3 years of having eczema over his whole body, he walked out of National Jewish Health with clear skin. He has learn't how to maintain his skin and has a daily treatment program which he follows. He has been almost eczema free for 6 months. He has small outbreaks which he now knows how to treat and are gone in a day.

I can not say enough good things about the doctors, nurses, and staff. They covered all aspects of what his eczema was affecting. There were classes to teach us about eczema and stress relief, and a psychologist to talk to me and my son. They also taught my son how to stop scratching and provided art classes that acted as a distraction from the scratching. They were unbelievable.

If your child has eczema and you can't get it under control, consider going to National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado, it was the best thing I have ever done in my life. It was life saving.