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Zoe
Raw Newbie
My friend Aaron, a raw fooder has been in a car accident. Anyone know anything about alternative feeding for people in his condition?
Here’s the latest email I got about him
“Aaron is currently on Ward 24 in the Leeds General Infirmary, he sustained massive head injuries and brain damage and is in a ‘vegetative state’.
I continue to hope and pray for a miracle along with many others all around the world.
I wondered if i could ask for some help in finding out about alternative feeding for people in Aarons situation, he is being fed through a tube going into his stomach at the moment but what they are feeding him is all milk based protein, he would go barmy if he could. He has thrush on his tongue and a fungal rash under his arms.
I know you are both probably really busy with moving and all, just some links to some web sites would be really appreciated, as would your prayers for healing and waking Aaron up.”
Please send your Love to him.
Comments
I’m sorry I have no advice on the feeding situation, but I wanted to say sending loving healing vibes out to him.
why can’t they feed him smoothies through the feeding tube? I don’t know how you’d go about it, though.. here in the US, youd never have a chance of convincing doctors to give anything other than Ensure or another milk based “nutritional food”
That’s terrible. Can’t help you but I wish your friend the best of luck.
omg, thats horrible. And i give him all my love and support to get better, soon. Personally, i would see if you could maybe possibly feed him some superfoods and like green smoothies or something as i would think it would speed his recouvery up.
I am sending positive and loving thoughts your friend’s way.
I am heartfelt about Aaron’s condition. And i send love and energy his way!
Will the hospital allow a change in his eating regime (without a fight of course)?
Zoey healing thoughts his way…wow…so sorry…. what about green super food smoothies(by amazing grass), coconut water? its going into a feeding tube right? i imagine anything thin enough would work but i doubt the hospital would go along…...makes you really think about what any of us could do in that situation!
I’m praying… God’s Blessings – He is sovereign.
Oh, the poor dear!! I’m sending millions of beautiful thoughts of sunsets, butterflies, and the blue sea straight to him. Wishing all the best!
My family are doctors I’ll ask them how far we can push them into feeding him something decent. I’ll post what I find out on here so we can all know.
Thanks for all your Love, if you have any healing lists going please put him name on them “Aaron Saunders.”
Zoe~ You didn’t mention when this accident happened… From his tongue and axilla being covered in thrush, I can assume it has been longer than just a few days… Am I correct???
It is my opinion that most MD’s don’t know the first thing about nutrition, wasn’t even a required class during schooling… YOU would be doing a great service to your friend and the medical society by getting involved and teaching by providing them with the knowledge that is needed to improve Aaron’s nutritional status…
YOU have the knowledge and tools to make this happen… First you can do, by taking a high protien, fat, green smoothie in to be inserted through his feeding tube or NG… Then show his family how so they can provide it… The nurses and Doc’s will learn and hopefully use the information on or for him as well as future patients…
Sending tons of raw healing his way and YOURS!!!
ZOE – My friend has re-occuring pancreatitis and a very rare disorder called nutcracker esophogia, which makes it difficult to eat because her esophagus stays closed. She has to take heavy doses of anxiety drugs to get it to relax enough so she can eat, but these drugs are causing or contributing to her pancreas problems. She got down to around 80 lbs. She looked like death. The doctors told her she was dying from malnutrition.
They put a PEG tube in her stomach. When she got out of the hospital, I agreed to help care for her. I almost screamed when I read what they were instructing her to feed herself. 5-6 cans of chemical death daily. I watched her drink a beer through it one day, which sure didn’t help her pancreas.
After 2 weeks, I convinced her to let me use my blender and fill her up with real raw food, just once. There was no incident and I made thin smoothies from everything raw after that. You just have to get a thoroughly complete liquid that isn’t very thick and it won’t get hung up in the tube.
She went to the doctor and told him what she had been doing and he FREAKED until he realized she felt better and wasn’t having any more tube infections. When she went raw, we also switched to using honey to clean the PEG Tube portal. After 2 weeks I started giving her avocados regularly (due to her pancreatitis she still had to take digestive enzymes daily) and she really started gaining weight. After two more months raw in her tube (about 3 total), they took it out because they felt she had gained enough to close it up. She weighed over 120 lbs.
To beat it all, she started eating SAD garbage again and her pancreas relapsed, which is very painful. She’s been back in the hospital several times since.
If you can get his healthcare workers on board – you can feed him real raw food.
When I got this idea, I found several sites and threads where people discussed doing this either because the were concerned about the quality of food or the insane price of that liquid death they feed them. I just found this site – Lucy’s Real Food Liquid Nutrition. Now she believes in cooking her food to death first but you know better.
I’m a registered nurse and I rarely see the physicians order anything besides milk based protein shakes or feeds for the NG tube. I’ve never had a raw foody as a patient so this puts a new spin on everything. I wish your friend the best of luck and hope he receives the best care possible. The longer he stays in the vegetative state, the quicker he will have muscle wasting. He will probably need a holistic M.D. to speak on his behalf. Strongly encourage turning him from side to side every 2 hours. I will keep him in my prayers.
I am so sorry to hear of your friend. He is in my prayers.
I can speak from the standpoint of someone who has been in and out of hospitals that tube feed, give out ensure, promax bars, etc. to eating disordered patients who can’t feed themselves or are malnurished.
Your friend, especially being raw, is in a sticky situation with very little choices if he wants to remain alive and getting medical help.
If he can’t feed him himself or every meal can’t be brought to him raw (in liquid, puree, etc. form) then the best thing you can do is
1. remind him that he was kept alive for a reason and right now a short time tube is what is helping keeping him alive. Remind him why he wants to live
2. Do not subject him to unhealthy view points about what they are feeding him, keep reminding him of his worth
3. You can also emphasize, to ease his mind, that when he leaves he can go back to raw, he can detox if need be, etc. He will get his choices and life and health but but first he needs to fight to remain alive and unfortantly in Western medicine I have never seen them able to cater to raw foodists. It’s caused MUCH havoc for me in the past during treatment.
Also, if anyone has seen raw food and tubes productively done, or raw food support during a time of malnutrition or inability to feed onself – PLEASE CONTACT ME. I would be more than willing to give this info to my doctor, it would also help me. This is a very triggering topic for me to respond to due to my past with these sorts of issues but I am actually very grateful we are discussing the topic of raw food/hospitals and feeding tube here – not happy as to why we are though and wish things like this didn’t happen, I am so glad he lived through it ,,, My heart goes out to your friend my dear.
Ps. May I also add how sweet it is of you to support your friend and come here looking for nutritional options for him. HUGS TO YOU. I know it must be hard for all of you right now. I am sending every bit of love I have to give:::
How can hospitals expect there patients to recouver if they feed tham s** like that? ah, it makes me so mad!
Hi Zoe, I have an illness which means every so often I get to weak or poorly to eat & have had to have NG feeding tubes for 18 month-2yrs at a time. Fornately I haven’t since going raw yet, but I know for a fact that medical people will fight you all the way & not listen to a word you say when in comes to the feed they use.
I know it doesn’t really help on the raw side but if your friend is strict vegan(like I am) there is a vegan dairy free formula you can have, thats made from soya. I know it probably isn’t much better but I feel at least I’m not eating an animal product. I’m quite lucky in that I am an out-patient when I have an NG tube & so you have a bit more control over what you put down the tube, as long as you don’t block it & you continue to put on/mantain your weight what they don’t know, can’t hurt them!
Unfornately the majority of the time it’s the only type of nutrition that can keep you alive in these situations & hopefully he’ll be able to reverse it’s effects when he recovers.
Zoe, I am sending some positive energy to you friend. He is in my prayers.
ZOE, How is Aaron?? I wholeheartedly agree with RawDance. He must have only positive thoughts, words and love surrounding him. When someones life is on the brink, that is the MOST important thing! I’m praying for him and extended family and friends. God knows everything, we don’t understand the whys or how this will all make sense, (if it ever does). Blessings and Joy despite circumstances.
Did you know that the name Aaron means “Mountain of Strength”? Yes!
Thank you everyone. His nearest and dearest have the link to this thread so they can see your words of support and Love.
Yes when I first met Aaron, one of the first things he said to me was that his name meant Mountain of Strength! It made me smile to read that mamamilk.
Please keep us updated so we know how to pray. Thanks for allowing us to be involved.
I truly believe your friend would recover faster on a raw juice feast. I can’t be of much help to you, but have you ever even tried just asking the doctor? I know that doctors have to be respectful of ones dietary needs. Especially for moral/spiritual/health/allergy reasons. For example, if my doctor ever told me to eat meat for a medical reason, I would tell him that because of my beliefs, I can’t. As a doctor and a professional, it is his job to find other possibilities that may help because there are always other options. If he doesnt, find another doctor who will. At least that is what my sister who is attending medical school revealed to me.
Maybe we can start a post dedicated as like a big group card to Aaron? Would that be okay? You can link his loved ones to the post and it will be more specific for him than this post which contains a lot of advice… I think a group card post would be a good idea to really organize thoughts and send out wishes in a specific special space dedicated to him. Zoe: give me the go and I’ll start the post… I don’t want to invade space so I’m asking permission from you, his friend, first.
Love Johnny