OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City couple is looking to a doctor in Indianapolis, Indiana, to help solve their son’s health problems stemming from multiple causes – something the boy’s mother said their health insurance doesn’t even recognize as a treatable condition.
Brittney Biederman, a kindergarten teacher in Ocean City, and her husband, John, moved with their two children to Ocean City in January 2022. Sometime later, the family started to feel the effects of mold in their house, which was being circulated by the HVAC system. They attempted to remediate the mold and now have air filters in every room.
The couple’s son, Hudson, 5, seemed to have been affected more severely than any of the other family members. Biederman said the mold from their home got into Hudson’s system, and recently, they were told that he was bitten by a tick at some point, resulting in something called babesia duncani (or b. duncani).
“The doctor explained that he would have been bitten around June of last year, and what he has is something like Lyme disease but more malaria,” Biederman said.
She said, while they don’t know for sure, it’s likely a tick attached itself to Hudson on a trip to Belleplain State Forest.
Between the tick and the mold, Hudson was diagnosed with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome, or PANS. Biederman said so much is not known about PANS other than bacteria gets to the brain and triggers neuropsychiatric responses.
Hudson has shown evidence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), separation anxiety, and facial tics. He has had trouble eating and has behavioral issues, including episodes of rage.
“His little body couldn’t handle it all,” Biederman said. “We woke up one day and had a different kid, like someone replaced him with someone I didn’t know.”
She said Hudson goes to school, but every day is a struggle.
“He’s gotten a little better. He’s on intensive antibiotics, and it’s had some positive effects, but we still walk on eggshells around him,” Biederman said.
She said Hudson has a fever every day, but other than that, she never knows what he is going to be like from one day to the next. She said that one minute he will be like his old, laid-back self, then the next everything makes him angry. One day, he will be couch-ridden, and the next day he is up and running around.
“It’s really up and down,” she said.
Biederman started to research Hudson’s symptoms and came across PANS, which seemed to fit. She said most doctors don’t know about PANS and won’t discuss it, and she said she even overheard her pediatrician refer to her as “crazy.”
Eventually, she discovered some doctors in Indianapolis who seemed to understand PANS because one of the doctor’s daughters has PANS.
She said she had done a lot of research on Hudson’s symptoms and believed it was because of the mold in their house. She said, as it turned out, his body was riddled with mold. She said the doctor’s daughter also had problems because of mold and other things.
“I knew we had to go there,” she said.
The Biedermans made the trip to Indianapolis at a cost of $4,500 for the office visit, which included some initial testing, but did not include special testing and medications, and was above and beyond travel expenses.
Biederman said Hudson was going to be seeing the doctor March 16 via Zoom, and he is supposed to start some IV treatment. The doctors told the Biedermans to consult a neurologist for Hudson’s headaches, and they did an MRI. They are looking at treating some of his symptoms with medication, such as for the OCD and anxiety. Biederman believes Hudson will be able to be cured, but it might take a long time, and some things could be lifelong.
Hudson’s uncle, Stephen May, set up a GoFundMe page, hoping to offset the costs associated with traveling to Indianapolis and all the testing Hudson needs.
Biederman said the response to the GoFundMe page exceeded her expectations, but the fight is not over. She said they would be meeting to go over a full treatment plan.
“We will meet with the doctors on March 16, and will go over a treatment plan. They said we could do some treatments locally,” Biederman said.
As far as the need to return to Indianapolis, Biederman said she isn’t sure.
She does know she is very thankful to people in the community. Teaching kindergarten, she has gotten to know a lot of families, especially those with young children, and she said they have been very supportive.
To learn more about the Biedermans’ journey, visit https://bit.ly/3JfK75u.
To view the GoFundMe page, visit http://bit.ly/3yGqc9J.
Contact the author, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
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