ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Almost half a million children face a life-threatening illness in the United States each year. For many, it means missing out on school, hanging out with friends and just doing the things kids do. Tonight, we want to introduce you to a young woman who beat the odds and found a way to be a shining star, even when just eating put her life at risk. SMAS
Seventeen-year-old Aubri Strutz knows this is exactly where she belongs — right in the spotlight!
“I played Maria in Sound of Music and that was just phenomenal. I loved that so much. That was in the middle of all my health issues too, and it was just like a dream role in the middle of really hard,” she recalled.
That “really hard” started when Aubri started having severe gastrointestinal issues.
“Food stopped being able to stay down. I’d just be sitting on the couch and it would just come right up. It was just awful,” she told Ivanhoe.
It got so bad, she had to rely on feeding tubes to survive.
“I did end up performing on stage with a feeding tube,” Aubri said.
She was told she suffered from anxiety and even an eating disorder. But her mom knew better.
“They’re still telling me it’s an eating disorder, she could not keep down water,” Alanda Strutz stated.
“When I first met Aubri, she had not really eaten anything by mouth for about two years,” recalled Nicholas Poulos, MD, pediatric surgeon chief at the Division of Pediatric Surgery for Nemours Children’s Health.
He uncovered the root of the problem — superior mesenteric artery syndrome (SMAS) — a rare condition where arteries pinch the small intestine.
“If that angle is too tight, the duodenum runs right through those two arteries and it squeezes it,” described Dr. Poulos.
Surgery was able to move the bowel away from the pinch. Just four days later, Aubri celebrated with something she hadn’t tasted in years.
“It was a cheeseburger. It was the only bite that I took, but it was so good,” she said.
And now Aubri is thriving, next up — the role of a lifetime, playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
Doctors say SMAS is extremely rare and often misdiagnosed as other digestive disorders — including ulcers, gallbladder issues, irritable bowel syndrome, or Crohn’s disease. Before considering surgery, patients are often encouraged to gain weight to widen the artery angle. But in Aubri’s case, surgery was the only option.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
Source:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21760876/
* For More Information, Contact:
Nicholas Poulos, MD
Pediatric Surgeon Chief at the Division of Pediatric Surgery for Nemours Children’s Health
(407) 650-7715
and
Vanessa Tostes
Public Relations Specialist at Nemours Children’s Health, Florida
Free weekly e-mail on Prescription: Health from Ivanhoe. To sign up: http://www.ivanhoe.com/ftk
