On Wednesday, April 10, 2013, Tanya wrote about Calvin's healing:
 

Hello! I know this is not perfectly written and it is very long. I feel I needed to write this journey down.
I want to keep it for our family, for Calvin, and I want it to be shared with many people beyond just our family.
I know that God wants us to share this witness of his love and fulfillment of his promise with as many people as we can.
So here is our story from a mothers heart and first hand witness.

I hope you will be touched by it and will share it with many - God lives within us, in the gift of the Holy Spirit and with that gift
He left us the POWER through him to heal the sick.

On June 2011 we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy, our second born, Calvin.
He was perfect in every way. Although, his delivery was a challenging one he didn't show any signs of trauma and was given
a clear bill of health when leaving the hospital. We were grateful to now have two healthy boys in our family! God is GREAT!!

I don't remember any signs of GI problems in the early months of Calvin's life but I do remember sleepless nights seemed to be constant,
more than you would expect with a new born. Other than that common FPIES symptom, looking back I don't see any hints that would
have caused us to think that Calvin had an issue with food.

It wasn't until Calvin was six months old that we experienced our first FPIES reaction. FPIES stands for Food Protein-Induced Enterocoliitis Syndrome.
It is a severe autoimmune response to food protein that can result in vomiting to the point of shock to many, in some cases all food.
We came to this diagnosis through Calvin's first bowl of oatmeal cereal.

Calvin was six months and it was time to give him his first food other than breast milk/formula. I mixed his oatmeal cereal with his formula and fed him.
We took pictures and were excited to see him enjoy eating... making that adorable first mess all over his face and high chair!!
It is always a fun experience, feeding your child their first foods. Although, in this experience the fun didn't last long.

It was EXACTLY two hours after eating that I heard Calvin crying from his crib where I had just laid him down for his nap.
When I got to his crib I found him covered from head to toe in vomit. As I was pulling him out of his crib to get him to the bathroom he vomited again,
and again and again. Six times in ten minutes. I panicked and yelled for Patrick. What followed was the most terrifying event I have ever been through.

Calvin vomited 20 to 25 times in two hours, his body went limp, his eyes rolled back into his head and his lips turned blue. We rushed him to the ER.
After getting a Dr. to look at him, they said he had the flu and not to feed him anything other than formula for a week.

Immediately following Calvin had the most awful diarrhea for days which goes hand and hand with FPIES reactions.
One week later we assumed Calvin was over the "flu" and fed him the cereal again... exactly to the minute two hours later he vomited 15 to 20 times again
and we were back to the ER. Once again, we were told he had the flu and that we should wait another week until feeding him again.
The story continues the same, one week later, cereal and vomit to shock. However, this time it was much worse and his oxygen level by the time
we reached the hospital was critical and they called a code and rushed him away from us as we followed.

After looking at Calvin and hearing our story of these three episodes, the ER Dr. walked in the room and handed us a sheet of paper with the words
FPIES at the top and a paragraph below describing the condition. I couldn't believe what I was reading, basically it was saying Calvin was allergic to ALL food.
I was in disbelief. I thought at the time, he doesn't have this and he is only allergic to oatmeal. I was sadly mistaken and the following weeks would prove
her diagnosis correct and a long road ahead to feed our little boy.

Our journey started visiting our pediatrician and one of the best recommended allergist. The take away from both appointments was that the condition
was very rare and at this time no answers in how to treat it. We were told that children usually grow out of it by the age of 3 or 4.
Calvin was 7 months old at this time. I will never forget what the highly recommended allergist said to us when sitting in his office.
He said, "Be prepared to be very frustrated with me, as I don't have the answers but am learning along with you".

Our only instruction was to start trialing foods in an effort to find foods his body would tolerate and if he began to vomit, call an ambluance,
as his body could quickly go into shock and he could die. They also typed up a letter that I could bring with me to the ER or hand to the paramedics
explaining FPIES, since no one really knew what it was. Not very comforting. So we went home feeling overwhelmed and worried.

Then I did the worst thing possible... I started searching the web for ANY and ALL information on FPIES.
The information I found was heartbreaking, children that were two and three years old with only a list of three to ten safe foods.
Terrified and asking for a team of people to be praying each time, we began to trial food.
After six failed trials and six trips to the ER over an eight week period we decided to stop trialing food and keep Calvin on formula only
(his one safe "food") until his first birthday, which was three months away. At that time I stopped going online in search of information,
my mind and heart needed a break.

We spent the next four months living like there was no FPIES, Calvin drank his bottles for every meal and we stayed out of the ER.
His first birthday came in June and we had a big party with family to celebrate this little boy and the sweet blessing that he is.
Although, there was no cake for Calvin that day, there was a great party with a large family that loved him very much.
Quickly after that day passed, both Patrick and I knew it was time to face FPIES once again. We began with organic white potatoes,
giving him only a tiny tiny taste and waiting in fear for two hours to pass and then three and then four. We did this for two weeks before going
to a full serving of potato and calling it a pass. His first safe finger food - white potato!

We moved onto banana and then prunes - both fails. After two months of trials we had one pass - organic Yukon white potatoes and two fails - bananas and prunes.
After the two back to back fails, we felt that there had to be a better way. We couldn't send him to the ER one more time and watch his body work
to recover for weeks to follow. So I went back online to search again and this time I found something with hope.

I found a blog from a mom in Canada who was doing a special diet called GAPS with her FPIES son. I read and read her blog from start to finish that night.
I felt she had found a path that seemed to have light and her son was healing.
The next day I found another mom's blog journaling her FPIES child healing on the GAPS diet.
I reached out to both these moms that were living across the world and they both reached back (I am forever grateful) and encouraged me with hope that this diet
could also help Calvin. I felt God was also encouraging my heart to go this path. Patrick and I discussed it and agreed to do GAPS. On the GAPS diet white potatoes are not allowed...
so in with the new diet and out with his only safe food. That was very hard to do, take away his only food after we/he fought so hard for it.
But we started from scratch with Lamb Broth as our first trial. It was a pass! We were on our way to healing with Lamb and two very special moms walking by our side.
The GAPS diet was not an easy diet to follow or figure out. It is very specific and there is an order in which foods are introduced prepared and allowed.
At times I thought it was just as tricky as FPIES. It was A HUGE learning curve, to say the very least. But it made a lot of sense as you learned about Calvin's condition
and what the GAPS diet works to accomplish.

The GAPS diet was a blessing, it definitely offered a lot of healing to Calvin and taught our whole family how to eat for nutrition.
He went from one safe food and multiple food trial fails... to ten safe foods in eight months with no fails since starting GAPS.
That alone was amazing progress! I feel the GAPS diet was the best decision we made for Calvin, it began his healing and kept him from vomiting to shock ever again.
We were thrilled that he was eating real food but it was obvious that his body was still very sick as we couldn't move him on from stage 1 of the diet after 8 months
and there are 6 stages.

Some of his symptoms that showed he wasn't digesting foods properly and still in pain was his inability to sleep through the night (an issue many FPIES children have),
still waking two to three times crying to be rocked to sleep every night. He had skin reactions in the form of eczema and horrible diaper rashes caused by the acid that
would come out in his poop - constantly. He had an enormous bloated tummy when we allowed him to eat his safe vegetables, it looked painful and uncomfortable.
Often times we would take his vegetables out of his diet and just feed him meat for every meal to help his bloated tummy go down.

He wanted to be held by his mom all day long. He would often lie at my feet if I wouldn't hold him. The most worrisome symptom was that Calvin started to just lay
on the floor for an hour at a time staring at the ceiling and twirling his hair for comfort.

The four weeks leading into Easter both my husband and I felt something was wrong.
All the symptoms above seemed to worsen, he was waking six to seven times a night, stomach super bloated, lying around even more often and crying a lot when I
wouldn't hold him. It just seemed everything was becoming more intense. I started to doubt myself and decisions we were and weren't making.
I started worrying about the side effects his very limited diet was having on his body. But worried more that if there were negative side effects what options did we have
in changing them. Fear and anxiety grew in me.

On Easter I hit my emotional bottom. Calvin screamed the whole day and he wouldn't let me put him down for a minute. He wanted to eat, eat and eat all day long.
I could tell he was trying to soothe his pain with food. But I didn't have near enough food prepared or packed with us to feed him to satisfaction.
I cried on the way from one family event to the other because I just wanted to lift the lid to his tiny body and SEE what was wrong and how we could fix it.
I wanted the constant guessing, fear and worry of not knowing to be OVER.

FPIES is like one great big maze but those walls are tall and the turns are everywhere - constant guessing and constant set backs with no guidance. Never knowing if the turn
you just made was going to lead you to another turn or a dead end. In addition to worrying for his health...we were exhausted of all the planning, preparing and cooking of
his very special diet. I desperately wanted to throw a banana in my purse and feed him while we were out so we didn't have to circle back home every 2 1/2 hrs to feed him
pureed meat, boiled veggies and broth.

That night when we returned home from our "Holiday", I crawled into bed and prayed. But this time I didn't pray for answers or healing, instead I prayed to reassure God
that although I was worn, exhausted physically and emotionally, my faith was not broken. I stilled believed He was ever present.
I felt from the messages He may overheard between my heart and my head that day he might need some clarification... and reassurance!

I woke up the next day and had this thought on my mind ALL day long - bring Calvin to a healing prayer service. I had heard of them, I had never been to one.
Yes, we did pray for Calvin everyday, but I had never felt compelled to bring him to be prayed over for healing specifically. Until this day.
Another thing that I remember thinking is... it is the first Monday of the month and a church near our house does a healing prayer service on the first Monday of every month.
When I realized there was a healing service being held today, on the very same day that I have been consumed by this thought of having Calvin prayed over for healing...
I did think God might be trying to lead me but I ignored it and the day passed without moving this thought to action.
Well God was persistent and graciously ignored my own ignorance the day before.

The next day is where our story changes from fear and doubt, to hope and being healed. The following morning I opened facebook to find a post that made me jump up and
run for my phone. I read a post from one of the moms of another FPIES child. It said her daughter, Gabby, had been HEALED from FPIES! WHAT?!?!
Then she linked an email from another FPIES mom that her daughter, Gracie, had also been healed from FPIES. WHAT?!?!
Now, I know both of these little girls stories and they were very sick with only one safe food each. Lamb Broth! Seven days later both girls were eating ALL kinds of food.

As I read both testimonies I discovered that these two little girls were prayed over for healing. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!
I thought...hey, I have felt that same desire in my heart... oh yeah, well that was just yesterday! I jumped up and ran for my phone to call Gracie's mom.
She answered and I think it went like this.
Me: OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!, I just read Sarah's post!
Gracie's Mom: I know isn't it crazy!
Me: NO!!!!! I believe!!!! I believe!!! Tell me everything!
So, she did, and, I hung up the phone with the number written down for a pastor on a piece of paper.

All I knew was that this man had dedicated his life to teaching, preaching and healing from God's Word! Enough said!
I called him and told him that my son also had FPIES and that we were believers in Christ. We wanted him to be healed!
He said to me, "Sister don't worry, Calvin is already healed. It is done, you just have to receive God's blessing!"
He also said, "it is not Magic, it is God."  Not magic, God. I thought that was good he clarified because it did sound a little like magic.
Hanging up the phone, with excitement I called everyone to tell them about this story of healing, well everyone that I was sure would still love me even if they
were now certain I went crazy!

The next evening changed my life forever. I cry when I type this because it is true. My life will NEVER be the same. Ever.
We gathered, 28 people if you count Jesus and we do, on Wednesday April 3rd, 2013 at 5:30pm to hear The Word of God and to prayerfully receive Gods healing over Calvin.
Many of the people I talked to that were there that night said they felt God in the room, they were personally touched by the Holy Spirit.
And to watch Calvin wave at the ceiling, smiling and saying "hi, hi!" for a few minutes without distraction as the pastor sat down to open his Bible, was in that moment a sign to me
that Calvin was welcoming a very special guest that night to be with us all.

It was an amazing two hours. We listened to the pastor read from the Bible, we followed along and we believed the promises of the Lord.
We believed he died on the cross taking all our sins AND all our illnesses with him on that day. He already has healed us.
That night, our hearts were open, we were parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins that were ready for Calvin's suffering to be over.
We believed. And we received.

That night, Patrick and I left the church with the most unwavering confidence that Calvin was healed. We couldn't wait to wake up and feed him!
The next morning Calvin had breakfast - not his usually pureed meat - he had squash and egg pancakes with a banana on the side.
Both eggs and bananas were foods he couldn't tolerate before. He loved it! As he ran back and forth from the table to counter asking for MORE, MORE PLEASE MOM!!!
We felt at peace. I felt that someone, Jesus, had removed the stress, sadness, worry, and fear that had been crippling me for the past 14 months. He took it over.
He picked up the cross we had been carrying and he carried it for us, this week, just like He did 2,000 years ago. He has not changed.

Our God has not changed, has NOT stopped healing the sick. He is doing all the mighty things He did when He walked the earth years ago, today still.
You read in your Bible, He gave a blind man sight, AMAZING... well He is still that AMAZING!
He gave a little boy, our son, and two little girls the ability to eat for the first time in their lives without being sick.

We have said goodbye to the FPIES world (in which we stayed too long) and moved to the Kingdom of heaven right here on earth.
We had been here all the long, we just didn't know it. I know this stretches the hearts of all of us to believe, but I am telling you we witnessed a miracle of healing.

Our son is healed. He has eaten everything we have given him since this night with NO reactions. In four days he tripled his number of "safe" foods.
We went out for pizza on the Saturday following and he ate pizza. We didn't think he would eat pizza for at leat two years, if then.

But he slept right through the night. He has slept through the night every night since his healing. I feel that is a mini miracle just for me! God is SO generous!

Eating a variety of food and sleep filled nights is not all, Calvin's eczema is gone! His diaper rash that he has had for 9 months - gone!

He is talking a significant amount more. He hasn't asked me to hold him or found lying on the floor once. Heck no!
He has been busy playing just about anywhere in our house. Just as a 22 month old should. He is a completely different child.
He is no longer sick! He feels GOOD and we can tell. We are a completely different family. We have been filled with the Holy Spirit.
I thank you for reading this incredibly long story and I ask that you share it with anyone who will listen.
God asks us to witness His love to all, He wants us to share with others His good work. Good work here - don't you agree!
God Bless! Tanya