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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Its working keep it up!!!

This site hasn't even been up and going for 24 hours yet and we already have so many people saying how great it is!! Thank you to everyone who is passing on the word!

Like I said this is our first blog/website so please be patient with us! I've had some people say why the long web address? I didn't just want to put LSjrodgers because no one knows what LS is I wanted to spell it out that way if it catches someones eye they will say "Lemierre's Syndrome what's that?" and maybe Google it.

My children's physician had never even heard of it and he was Justin, Jamie, Chrissy and my physician too. He pulled out the book to read about it and in this HUGE medical book there was only 1 small paragraph about it. That's ridiculous! This disease is hurting our children and there is one paragraph about it! I promise that will change!
Thank you!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We need to do all we can to prevent this disease. There is a lot of info at www.pubmed.gov. Check it out.
We love you Justin.

Anonymous said...

Hi my name is Kevin King im a 37 yr old male and i recently came out of hospital after contracting Lemierres disease.Ive got a dvt in my left jugular and am still on antibiotics Augmentin and clindamycin plus i take warfarin to thin my blood.I had a small op under local anesthetic to remove tissue and puss from my neck,i also had fluid on my lung.My doctor said i had the flu and when i went to an out of hours service because the pain in my shoulder and neck were unbearable the doctor there told me id had a muscle spasm and that i should get some therapy for it.When i finally admitted myself to hospital i was taken to have a ct scan chest x ray and given various madicines iv.It was hit and miss but i made it my shoulder is still swollen and im still not 100% fit but im alive i lost 8kilos in three weeks not a diet i recommend.Keep up the good work knowledge is power if you have a swollen shoulder or neck feel tired extremely shivers and temperature ask your doc if lemierres is a possibility Kevin King


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Justin's news article in the West Magazine

This was taken from http://www.westnewsmagazine.com/news02.html

Rockwood student dies rapidly from little-known disease
By Diane Plattner

In April, Eureka High School student Justin Rodgers began to complain of a severe sore throat and was dead approximately one month later from an unfamiliar disease. Now, his mother hopes to spread awareness about the deadly disease.
Justin died in the early morning hours of May 12, the day after Mother’s Day, after losing a battle with Lemierre’s Syndrome, a serious bacteria that is not well-known and even doctors are prone to misdiagnose the disease. Unfortunately, Rodgers’ doctor was among that group after initially diagnosing him with strep throat on April 11, said Sheryl Rodgers, Justin’s mother.
“Justin had said, ‘Mom, this is the worst sore throat I’ve ever had in my life,’” Rodgers said.
She said that Justin’s doctor took no throat culture and gave her son medicine for strep throat. She said her son’s condition worsened over the next few days during which he had increased high fever, chest pain and a lump in his neck. On April 14, Rodgers took her son to St. Anthony’s Hospital, which transported him overnight to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital where he underwent extensive testing, including X-rays and blood work, Rodgers said.
Rodgers said that hospital officials diagnosed him with Lemierre’s Syndrome, a bacteria that can surface after mouth trauma. Last July, Justin was in a car accident that resulted in mouth injuries that required him to get major dental work, including a recent new tooth. In addition, Justin had suffered a broken nose just before the onset of his sore throat, his mother said.
“I wonder if all this woke up the bacteria, which was already living in the body,” Rodgers said.
The last time Rodgers saw him fully awake was a few days later, when hospital officials decided to place her son on a respirator and sedate him with drugs.
“He was out of it but still with us then,” Rodgers said. “He would frown when the doctors worked on him. So he had some responses.”
However, Justin’s lungs kept collapsing, prompting hospital doctors by April 25 to place him on an ECMO machine to help rest his lungs and heart. Doctors at that point also put him into an induced coma, Rodgers said.
“At that point there was no response from Justin,” Rodgers said. “Still, I talked to him and rubbed his sore spots to let him know we were there.”
By Mother’s Day, Justin was leaking too much blood, prompting doctors to decide to remove him from the ECMO, a move they said was risky if his lungs were not healed enough.
“Once they took him off the ECMO, Justin’s face was getting gray,” Rodgers said. “He was holding his own for a few hours, but then he starting going downhill.”
Justin died early the next morning following Mother’s Day with his immediate family, including three older siblings, by his side, Rodgers said.
“He was our baby,” Rodgers said. “I think the hospital tried to keep him going so he did not die on Mother’s Day.”
The tragedy is not the first for the Rodgers family. They also lost a 4-year-old child in a horseback riding accident and had a stillborn child many years ago, Rodgers said.
“I thought God could not possibly do this to us again,” Rodgers said. “I asked why again, why us. But there is no answer. Here we are walking on egg shells again.”
Rodgers said she was at least thankful that Justin’s funeral was so big that people were standing outside, a huge tribute to his life. She also hopes to honor his life with a campaign to help spread awareness about Lemierre’s Syndrome, which she said often hits people between the ages of 14 and 25. It is not spread by kissing but instead lives in the body, she said. Her goal is to make people, including doctors, more aware of its symptoms so they are not mistaken for strep throat.
“I do not want Justin to have died in vain,” Rodgers said. “This is one bad bacteria. It is very serious. People should not treat it lightly.”
To learn more about Lemierre’s Syndrome, visit the Rodgers’ family Web site at lemierresyndromejrodgers.blogspot.com.