Abigail's Story
Last year was a very challenging year
for the Beaman family. Abigail was born February 22, 2006. Her first
year of life was filled with a lot of challenging health problems. She
had excess fluid on her brain which we discovered when she was
approximately 3 months old. This condition is known as Hydrocephalous.
We were referred to a Neurosurgeon at Children’s Hospital and he has
been following her since. At one time, there was talk about putting a
shunt in her brain to help her ventricles drain properly but we decided
to hold off on the surgery to see if this condition was something she
would out grow (thankfully she did). Along with the excess pressure in
her brain, it caused pressure on her optic nerves in her eyes so we were
seeing an Ophthalmologist at the Eye Center at Children’s to ensure her
vision was not being affected.
Through all of this, Abigail started
having a very hard time having bowel movements. Her pediatrician
thought she might have a disease called Hirschsprung’s disease.
Hirschsprung’s disease is where some of the nerve endings in the colon
were not totally developed. Once again we were referred to a pediatric
GI specialist in Salt Lake City, UT. The doctor thought that doing
surgery would be jumping the gun a bit and thought with foods and
medication the problem could be managed. Alan and I started feeding her
sweet potatoes and introduced her to solid foods at 4 months of age.
This did not help the situation and she was still having a hard time
pooping. Since that time (4 months old) she has been on a prescription
medication, to help her stool stay soft and flowingJ.
Along with all of this, Abigail had 9
ear infections in 12 months. She had minor surgery and had tubes put in
her ears (Later we discovered that the chronic ear infections were
related to severe food allergies but we’ll get to that!). Along with
the ear infections came a lot of antibiotics which in turn came with a
lot of side effects including numerous urinary tract infections.
Abigail underwent several MRI’s and ultra sounds, both on her kidneys
and urinary tract as well as her little brain (to monitor the fluid
levels). The doctors thought she might have something wrong with her
kidneys because of the repetitive infections she was getting, a few of
which put her in the hospital for 3-5 days at a time. The doctors told
us that chronic UTI’s in an infant could cause serious problems later on
so they put Abigail on yet another antibiotic. She has been on this
medication since she was 6 months old. Even after being on the
medication to help control her UTI’s, she continued to have some
infection and severs diaper rashes.
The icing on the cake was last August
2006 when Abigail developed a rare blood disease known as I.T.P. Her
body’s antibodies started attacking her own blood including her red
blood cells and platelets instead of attacking foreign infections. This
put Abigail back in Children’s hospital for 8 days. When we first
admitted her, they told us they thought she might have Leukemia. A
“normal” platelet count for an infant Abigail’s age (at this time) was
between 250,000 and 400,000 and when we put Abby in the hospital, her
platelet count was down to only 8,000…pretty scary. After several IV
injections and 8 days in the hospital she was discharged. Thank God she
didn’t have to have a blood transfusion. They were ready to give her
one because her hemoglobin and hematocrit counts were so low (sitting at
27) but they don’t transfuse until they hit 25 so we were lucky.
Needless to say this introduced more prescriptions and more antibiotics
for Abigail.
Because of all that Abigail had going
on, I thought I was going to lose my mind. Every time we turned around,
it seemed that we were getting more scary news about our daughter and
all we could do was pray for something good and positive to happen.
Alan and I hated the fact that she was on SO many different medications
and antibiotics and we didn’t know where to turn next. I found myself
so depressed and struggling day to day with anxiety, stress, etc. My
doctor finally had to put me on anti-depressants, sleeping medication,
and anti anxiety medication. It was like we were in the vicious cycle
and could not get out or get our baby well.
Abigail still wasn’t doing very well
and then the most terrifying thing happened. I took her into her
pediatrician for her 1 year check up and they told me that she was under
weight and very anemic. Since she had just turned 1, they suggested
that we feed her high fat, high protein foods and that Peanut butter was
a good place to start. After the age of 1, toddlers can pretty much eat
whatever they can tolerate. That night I gave Abigail some peanut
butter on a piece of whole wheat bread which sent her body right into
anaphylactic shock. That was another night in the ER with oxygen,
epinephrine shots and baby steroids. Pretty scary ~ but this was truly
the turning point in our lives. This event lead Alan and I to an
allergist in Idaho Falls who did some allergy tests on Abigail and found
out that she was also suffering from severe food allergies. We were
very careful with what we were feeding her but this did not help with
her blood levels and she was still very anemic.
Finally, one of our good friends that
used to drive snow cats came into town to visit us. He brought with him
a couple bottles of Goji Juice. He told us that he was not trying to
sell us anything or push anything on us but he knew of the year we had
with Abigail and told us that this was an AMAZING product. Not only did
we have a challenging year with Abigail’s health, we also accrued a
ridiculous amount of medical bills (over $100,000.00). We didn’t ask
too many questions because we had already been through so much but we
were excited to try something new.
We immediately started giving Abigail 1
ounce of Goji Juice every day. Within 4 days, Alan and I noticed that
her energy levels were up, she was not so tired, and miraculously the
dark circles under her eyes, from her allergies and anemia, were GONE!
We kept her on the juice for 7 days and then I thought to myself, I
wonder what would happen if I took Abigail off her pooping medication.
Just as I thought, another miracle ~ Abigail did not have any trouble
pooping……to make a long story short ~ Abigail is 100% OFF ALL of her
medications and prescription drugs and is only taking Goji Juice.
She is healthier than she has been in 14 months! I just got the
results of her last blood draw and her iron levels are up, she is no
longer anemic, her H&H counts are perfect, and her food allergies are
manageable. This truly has been a MIRACLE AND BLESSING for our
family.
After Alan and I witnessed Abigail’s
success, we started drinking Goji Juice. We each drink 2 ounces in the
morning and 2 ounces at night. Since I have been on it for 7 weeks now,
I am totally OFF ALL of my medications as well. No more
anti-depressants, no more sleeping pills, and no more anti anxiety
medication. The Goji juice has turned our lives around and for the
first time in 14 months, we have the most beautiful healthy baby
girl!!! Alan and I are on the right track as well.
I am not saying that the Goji Juice
“cured” Abigail, but what it did do for her was boost her immune system
and give her body the nutrients it needed to actually start to “repair,
heal, and rejuvenate itself”!
This is my true and honest testimonial
of how my family and I were introduced to Goji Juice. The result of how
it has helped me and my sweet family is unbelievable. Since Alan and I
have been able to watch the improvements in Abigail’s health, as well as
our own, it has given me a passion for this amazing product and started
me on a new venture in life ~ a crusade to share Goji Juice with
everyone I know!
Take Care & Take Goji
Juice ~
Aireann B., Idaho