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Flint, Mi. (WJRT) — For parents, most would probably agree that they would do anything to make their child feel better if they’re sick.
For a Flint family, it’s especially difficult because their son has an illness that has no cure, and they don’t know what’s causing it.
Back in March this year, 7-year-old Tanner Gibson developed a sinus infection along with a bit of a sore throat.
“A couple of days later, he woke up just displaying all kinds of OCD type symptoms — Tics, rituals, anxiety, extreme anxiety to the point where you could see sheer terror in his eyes,” said father Jon Tanner.
Tanner says Gibson continued to display unexplained erratic behavior, making his parents concerned.
“How could this happen overnight? It’s not like something traumatic happened. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out to us,” Jon said.
They began researching, and one disease kept popping up over and over online called PANS disease, which stands for Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome.
It’s where an unknown trigger can infect the body’s immune system, producing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder like behaviors and or Tic disorders.
“We didn’t know what was going on. Our family doctor at the time wouldn’t see us for two weeks. We called University of Michigan Mental Health. They said here’s the emergency mental health line, but we can’t see you for six weeks,” Gibson’s mother Amanda said.
That was until Jon and Amanda took him to see a specialist in New Jersey, only one of a handful nationwide that deals with PANS disease.
Sure enough, Gibson was formally diagnosed with the rare disease earlier this spring.
“It was, it’s something I hope no parent has to go through, to see your child going through these things and begging you to make it stop,” Jon said.
The Tanners say Gibson’s bouts of fear and panic come and go at a moment’s notice with no apparent trigger. But what’s scary for them is knowing that Gibson is aware of his behaviors.
“Sometimes my compulsions make me feel like I’m going to die soon,” Gibson said.
“The night that he thought her and I were conspiring to kill him. How do you explain to your kid that you’re trying to help him and you’re what he’s afraid of,” Jon said.
Gibson is currently going through a round of antibiotics to see if the medication will have any positive benefit.
“We’re on our first one right now and seeing some good things from it. In some ways, not, in some ways, he’s even regressed with some of his symptoms,” Amanda said.
Gibson’s parents say his erratic behavior can last anywhere from a couple of minutes to hours on end.
“The majority of our days are rough to bad and with points of good times,” she said.
But what the Tanners want is for every day to be decent and OK, so that Gibson can live a normal and happy life.
“If you ask almost any 7-year-old what you want in the world more than anything, most of them wouldn’t say, ‘For me to get better,'” Jon said.
Currently, there is no cure for PANS disease.
At this point, Jon and Amanda do not know if Gibson will have PANS for the rest of his life. They say right now they take things one day at a time.
The Tanners have set up a GoFundMe to help offset some of Gibson’s medical expenses.
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