My Christmas Present to my Baby Brother!

I have decided to write my brother a letter and post it here on his website as my Christmas present to him!!

Justin the time that you have been gone has been going by so fast! But I think I can speak for everyone when I say the pain in our hearts feels the same. I have no idea what happen or why you were taken from us. Lots of people keep telling me that this was your destiny, to save people from this disease! But I still don't get it. Nor will I ever until the day I come home and meet you in Heaven. There are about a million songs on the road that remind me of you and make me think of you. I have to admit I think about you just about 10 - 15 hours a day, now keep in mind I sleep for 8 hours. You have come to see me in my dreams 2 times so far. One of the times you were about 8 and you just sat by my side, didn't say much. It was almost like you were trying to tell me something but I wasn't listening to you. I cry so easily now! It use to take a lot for me to cry but anything makes me shed a tear! Cruz and Allen miss you soo much. They have no idea why this happened the way it did. They really just don't get it at all! You would be soo proud of Kristiana well I should say I know you are b/c I believe you are with us ever day! She started crawling yesterday! I love you so much. I know you love me too even though we didn't say it all the time nor show it. Every year for the past 5 yrs I have gotten you name for Christmas. And just about every time you either wanted a CD or a hoody! It is very hard for me to go into the stores that remind me of you. I went into PacSun in CA and I had to walk out I couldn't stand it! When you were in the hospital I bought you a Big Black hat from there and TJ had him sign it that night for you! Tony wore it the other day I really wish I could have given it to you! Every time I see a boy your age around me I just want to grab him and hug him!!! Sometimes I sit and listen to the way people talk to each other and the little stupid things people get mad about and I just want to tell them my story and how much I would LOVE to nit pick and argue with you right now but I can't! I just really wanted to write and tell you how much I love you and how much work we are doing down here to help save other families from going through this. Tomorrow morning will be different b/c for the past 17 yrs I got to watch you get almost double the presents I did! LOL I know there will be lots of tears tonight and tomorrow but I know you are here with me and I will NEVER forget you and always love you! I smile and talk to you all the time I hope you can see and hear me!
I love you with my great big heart Justin the bee!
Love you big sister!

Another article

We were in a article from back in Nov. Check it out!

http://www.madison.com/tct/top5/314937

Thank you!
luv,
Tammy

T-SHIRTS !!!!

We have pretty much finalized our T shirt designs! If you would like to start order them please send an email to Sunflwz2@yahoo.com in the subject line just put T Shirts. Let me know the size you would like along with Short or Long Sleeve and how many. right now it is looking like the short sleeve T Shirts will be $9 and the long sleeve will be $13 please add $1.50 for all XXL or above. If I need to ship these items to you please give me your mailing address and I will calculate postage and let you know what it will be. You can make checks out to
Justin E Rodgers Foundation and send them to
11695 Castle Ranch Rd
DeSoto MO 63020
ORR you can pay through our Donate button on this website. Send me an email with the sizes and long or short sleeve and pay via the "Donate" button.
These shirts may take about 3 to 4 weeks to get printed and delivered to you. I will place our first order Dec 12. I have to have your check before I can place the order.
They will be light Grey color. The long and short sleeve will have the same design. Our logo on the front and on the back it will say "Not just your average infectious disease... www.lemierresyndrome.com" With angel wings over the shoulder blades. I will post pictures after our first set of orders go through Dec 12.

Thank you to everyone!!!!
Love,
Tammy

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
This is a day that we are all suppose to sit back relax and think about what we are thankful for. For all the people that cook relaxing is not in the equation.
I am thankful for my friends and family that have supported us through the last 6 months. It seems to be getting harder but I guess that is normal. It always gets harder before it gets easier. It doesn't help that now the holidays are here.
For those of you in the St. Louis area Justin's head stone has been put into place. My mom and dad picked out a beautiful bench with a great saying on the top.
I hope everyone has a good safe Thanksgiving!

Love,
Tammy

T Shirts and other Awareness items

Thank you to everyone that has purchased our new ribbons, bracelets and other items we have.
The Candles I have listed are some of the items we are selling at our craft fair. We have candles with Ribbons attached and we have Coffee and Hot Cocoa Candles too. My mom came up with those ideas and they have been a big hit at the fair. Great unique Christmas gifts.
I have had some emails about T shirts. We are still in the process of creating the logo and trying to figure out the color we want, what we want the back to say and all the good stuff. Please check back with us periodically to update your self with our items. Hopefully we should have a good start on the T shirts by the end of this weekend.
We also have www.lemierresyndrome.com pointing to this site so if you would rather give people a shorter site to type in tell them to go to www.lemierresyndrome.com

Thank you again and please continue to check back with us. It's always changing here!

Love,
Tammy

6 months today!

Well it's been 6 month today. We have come so far! I have had over 50 cases emailed to me and met so many people due to this horrible disease! Thank you to everyone that has helped us get the word out and emailed me their stories! Your support and help means so much! We have so many ideas on how to spread the word but we have to take one step at a time.
Justin is still in our thoughts everyday and it will continue that way forever! He is watching over us and guiding us along this crazy journey we have just begun.

Again thank you everyone!!!

Your thoughts and prayers for my family and I have meant the world to us!

Love, Tammy

Another Case and Michael

I received this last night!
Hi Tammy,
I don't know how to post to the site, so I am just sending you a message.My 19-year-old son is at UCLA with classic Lemierre's. They virtually ignored his high fevers and sore throats for more than a week. And being a stoic guy like Justin, he tried to say it was nothing. He was finally admitted to the UCLA hospital system, but fortunately,even though it has spread to lungs and skull, he should be okay. I want you to know it is the subject of the UCLA Med school seminar this week. And they are going to also suggest that the medical profession rethink the mentality that you send them home with Tylenol if it is not Strep. Thank you for making your site on the Web. I believe that Justin is somehow helping us get through this. Please keep it up.
Best regards,
Alice

And please continue to keep Michael, as well as all the other people in your prayers. Michael is still in the hospital! His mother sent this update to me this morning,

Michael just had another echo and it shows that the leakage in his mitral valve is slightly less, but it still is a big leak, and the clot is smaller, BUT he has fluid around his left lung now. They will give him lasik for a few days to see if the fluid will go down. We don't really know what this means as of yet. We need to talk to his cardiologist about it.

Thank you to all the nurses and even Dr's that have contacted me letting us know they are helping get the word out! They have all put up flyers around the hospitals they work and is passing around our website to everyone they can.

I have ordered more business cards so if you see me out or would like me to mail you some please let me know. I should have them this week.

The new bracelets are going to be in this week too. We are asking for $3.00 or up donations for these as well as the pin or magnet ribbons we have. If you live out of St. Louis please email me @ sunflwz2@yahoo.com and all we will need from you is a check for the donation and we will get them out to you, I will let you know via email what mailing address to send it to.. Please add $1.50 for postage. I am going to set up an paypal account so if anyone wants to pay via CC they can through them. I'll let ya know when it is up and running.

Awareness and knowledge is the key to battling this disease! Even if you don't know much about Lemierre's that's all you have to say to people.
"I don't know much about this disease but I know it is VERY deadly and has taken the lives of young adolescents all over the US and the world. So please check out this website!"


Luv,
Tammy

Craft Fairs

Well they seem to be going well. We have had a good response and most of the people we are meeting saw us on the News.
Thank you to everyone that has helped us!!!!
We really appreciate it and couldn't have done it with out you all!
I am now researching Taylor Momsen, she was supposedly in the hospital with a life threatening throat disease! She was released already but makes me wonder what it was!!!!!!! She is a 15 yr old actress that plays a role in the TV series "Gossip Girls"

Prayers needed for Michael

Michael is a young man whose life was turned upside down due to Lemierre's back in Feb of 08. He has fought a very long on going battle and has won his battle but today had to go back into the hospital because he has an infection in his heart valve. He has a website of his very own you can visit http://www.prayformichael.com/ I told him and his mother Justin's whole family and all his friends are praying for him. His mother and I have stayed in contact ever since she found out about Justin months ago.. I also learned of a young 18 yr old girl in OH that will most likely be getting a heart transplant too b/c of the damage done to her heart. I'm not sure of her name at this time but we also continue to for pray her.
Thank you!
love
Tammy

Lemierre's

Lemierre's syndrome (or Lemierre's disease) is a disease usually caused by the bacterium Fusobacterium necrophorum, and occasionally by other members of the genus Fusobacterium (F. nucleatum, F. mortiferum and F. varium etc.) and usually affects young, healthy adults. Lemierre syndrome develops most often after a strep sore throat has created a peritonsillar abscess, a crater filled with pus and bacteria near the tonsils. Deep in the abscess, anaerobic bacteria (microbes that do not require oxygen) like Fusobacterium necrophorum can flourish. The bacteria penetrate from the abscess into the neighboring jugular vein in the neck and there they cause an infected clot (thrombosis) to form, from which bacteria are seeded throughout the body by the bloodstream (bacteremia). Pieces of the infected clot break off and travel to the lungs as emboli blocking branches of the pulmonary artery bringing the heart's blood to the lungs. This causes shortness of breath, chest pain and severe pneumonia. Fusobacteria are normal inhabitants of the oropharyngeal flora. This is a very rare disease with only approximately 160 cases in the last 100 years.SymptomsThe first symptoms are a sore throat, extreme lethargy, fever, and general body weakness, but after a week or two these symptoms are followed by a spiked fever, rigors, swollen cervical lymph nodes and septicemia (infection of the blood) which can cause complications in other parts of the body including abscesses of lung, brain, and other organs, kidney failure and also effects on liver and joints if untreated.TreatmentLemierre's syndrome is easily treated with antibiotics, but because sore throats are most commonly caused by viruses, for which antibiotic treatment is unnecessary, such treatment is not usual in the first phase of the disease. Lemierre's disease proves that, rarely, antibiotics are sometimes needed for 'sore throats'. If a persistent sore throat, with the symptoms are found, physicians are cautioned to screen for Lemierre's syndrome. Fusobacterium necrophorum is generally highly susceptible to Beta-lactam antibiotics, metronidazole, clindamycin and third generation cephalosporins while the other fusobacteria have varying degrees of resistance to beta-lactams and clindamycin. The disease can often be un-treatable, especially if other negative factors occur,i.e. various diseases occurring at the same time, such as; meningitis, pneumonia etc.IncidenceLemierre's syndrome is currently a very rare disease, but was quite common in the early 20th century before the discovery of penicillin. The reduced use of routine antibiotics for sore throats by doctors may have increased the risk of this disease, with 19 cases in 1997 and 34 cases in 1999 reported in the UK. The incidence rate is currently 0.8 cases per million in the general population, leading it to be termed the "forgotten disease". The mortality rate was 90% prior to antibiotic therapy, but is now generally quoted as 15% with proper medical treatment, although one series of cases reported mortality as low as 6.4%

Welcome to our site!

Please make sure and read all the way through our website. There is a lot of helpful and useful information here. Pass it along to all of your friends. Even bring it up in conversation the next time you take your children to the Dr. Justin's Dr's told me while he was in PICU that people die from this disease they just don't know this is what it is. For some people there is just not enough time to diagnose them so the Dr's believe their death was caused by Pneumonia or strep. Just 5 years ago the statistics were 120 case in 100 years. NOW the statistics are 1,000 cases a year and 100 deaths a year! This disease is coming back and we have to be more aware! It attacks young health adolescents ages 14 - 25. Everyone I have personally talked to that has survived this disease refers to it as their "Near Death Experience!" This disease attacks the body faster then any Cancer or HIV. Justin went into the hospital April 16, 2008 and passed away May 12, 2008. 4 weeks it took this disease to take him away from us. Every case I have read is a little different, it attacks different organs each time. I've heard it attack the brain, the heart, the kidneys and in Justin's case it went after his lungs. We are continuing Justin's fight! Justin was not old enough to be a soldier but in my eyes he IS OUR soldier. He gave his life to save others in my point of view! We are saving lives and educating Dr's and bringing more awareness to this horrible nasty disease! For more information please also visit www.medrants.com This Dr has been studying Lemierre's and sore throats for YEARS!
Thank you!
Justin E Rodgers Foundation for Lemierre's Awareness

NEWS CHANNEL 5 INTERVIEW!!!!!

The interview we did last week is going to air tonight at 10 on Channel 5!!!!

Tags for balloons

Here is something I wrote up if you would like to attach it to your balloons you release.

Justin – HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY!! We still miss you everyday that goes by. You are our super hero and always will be! Anyone who finds this balloon please know it was let go for a young 17 yr old that passed away from a disease Dr’s know very little about. Please help us spread the word! Justin E Rodgers Foundation for Lemierre’s Awareness Inc
www.lemierresyndromejrodgers.blogspot.com
We LOVE you JUSTIN!

Just copy and paste it in a word document or note pad. ;0)

Happy Birthday Baby brother we love you!

I will take pictures of all the gifts Justin will get tomorrow and post them on the site!
Thank you for helping us make this day so special!
Anyone coming to my mom's please try to be there @ 4.

Justin E Rodgers Foundation for Lemierre's Awareness Inc

We are officially OPEN for Business! I received our Tax ID # today! We can now open a bank account and proceed like a normal Non Profit. We are going to set up tables at craft fairs around St. Louis this Oct - Dec and sell hand made candles, stationary, ribbons and anything else we can think of. We will be attaching cards to each item directing them to this website and asking them to help us spread the word of this disease.
We are also able to accept donations now! Any kind of donations are great! Most people think directly of Money but we can accept anything that will help us spread the word, your time, paper to print on, toner or anything at all. We will soon have a website for our Non Profit! All this in perfect time for Justin's Birthday!
Speaking of Justin's birthday don't forget to release your balloon @ 5:00 Sunday!
Anyone that is going to try to make it to my mom's you can come anytime around 4 and please bring your own balloons. THANK YOU!!

Luv Tammy

My 3rd Cousin Jacob

Hi there! Last Tues I received an email from my 2nd cousin Cindy. She was letting us know that her nephew was sick over last weekend with the flu. After some time passed his dad just couldn't help but think that something didn't seem right and he thought of Justin and what had just happened to us. He decided to take him to the ER. Ends up he has bacterial meningitis. The Dr's told him that if he would have waited any longer he would be in some SERIOUS TROUBLE. When she first told us about him he was still sedated and had a probe in his brain to monitor the swelling. As of today he is awake and looks to be doing much much better! I wanted to share this story with everyone even though it has nothing to do with Lemierre's. We all know and have that little voice in our heads when something just isn't right! Please, please, please listen to that little voice. Jacob I can speak for everyone in our family and every one that reads this site when I say, "We are so glad you are OK and you are one lucky guy to have such a great family! We hope you get to come home soon!"

** Justin's birthday is this Sunday Sept 28th. I have had many emails from all over the US saying they will be joining us in a balloon release in there homes Sunday at 5:00 pm. For everyone that will be coming to my parents house to release balloons we are asking that everyone please bring your own balloons with you. We have no idea how many people will come but please bring your own balloons. Any color that you like! I am going to print out tags for you to attach to the balloon if you like.
Thank you!
Tammy