Today is Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day.
Many of you may be visiting this blog because of an email I sent out or a post on Facebook. My main goal right now is to spread awareness about this disease.
Please take the time to read my previous post: So what is Kawasaki disease or visit The Kawasaki Disease Foundation website directly to learn more about this disease.
You will often read that this disease is rare and affects mostly boys under 5 that are of Asian descent. However, after Isaiah was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease (KD) I spoke to many people that knew of other children that had KD and most of those children did not fit into the typical category. I had never heard of KD prior to Isaiah's diagnosis and because it is not a common illness it may often go misdiagnosed. The disease can resolve itself, but without treatment the chances of coronary complications increases. Maybe those otherwise healthy kids you hear about that die of heart problems playing hockey or basketball are undiagnosed KD survivors that had undetected coronary aneurysms?
If you have children in your life that you care about please take the time to educate yourself on the symptoms of Kawasaki disease. They don't have to all be present for it to be KD. They weren't all there in Isaiah's case. If your child has any of the symptoms, please bring it to the attention of your doctor. Don't be afraid to speak up and be an advocate for your child. It can make all the difference.
I also urge you to share this information with your friends and family that have children.
Right now I am focusing on awareness. I will leave fundraising for another day ;)
Many of you may be visiting this blog because of an email I sent out or a post on Facebook. My main goal right now is to spread awareness about this disease.
Please take the time to read my previous post: So what is Kawasaki disease or visit The Kawasaki Disease Foundation website directly to learn more about this disease.
You will often read that this disease is rare and affects mostly boys under 5 that are of Asian descent. However, after Isaiah was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease (KD) I spoke to many people that knew of other children that had KD and most of those children did not fit into the typical category. I had never heard of KD prior to Isaiah's diagnosis and because it is not a common illness it may often go misdiagnosed. The disease can resolve itself, but without treatment the chances of coronary complications increases. Maybe those otherwise healthy kids you hear about that die of heart problems playing hockey or basketball are undiagnosed KD survivors that had undetected coronary aneurysms?
If you have children in your life that you care about please take the time to educate yourself on the symptoms of Kawasaki disease. They don't have to all be present for it to be KD. They weren't all there in Isaiah's case. If your child has any of the symptoms, please bring it to the attention of your doctor. Don't be afraid to speak up and be an advocate for your child. It can make all the difference.
I also urge you to share this information with your friends and family that have children.
Right now I am focusing on awareness. I will leave fundraising for another day ;)
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