Benefit Sunday for Cohen Erickson
By Michael Johnson, Editor
Travis and Keri Erickson look over a long list of problems that have been found in their 18-month-old son Cohen. At birth he was a healthy 8 lb 6 ounces. At just 11 months of age Cohen began losing weight and is now far off the charts of what's considered normal. The family, which includes a very healthy three-year-old daughter Liza, has made four trips to the Mayo Clinic to find out what's making Cohen sick. They live through the stress week-by-week and day-by-day. So far, Cohen has been through more than someone should in their lifetime, including what doctors call failure to thrive as well as digestive issues, chronic ear infections, sinus infections and a cough. These have led him to fail to gain weight or height. His testing, so far, has been for celiac disease, Crohns disease, kidney ultrasound, biopsies of the intestines, colonoscopy, ultrasounds for liver tumors, multiple CT scans, checking for fructose malabsorption, adenoidectomy, ENT scope, ciliary biopsies, bronchoscopy, nasal endoscopy and a bilateral ear exam and scope, all 10 hours from home. Cohen has been under anesthesia four times.
