MARY LOU JACOBS: I actually was diagnosed with Crohn's disease just recently. I've had for many years some sort of stomach problems, stomach pain, diarrhea on and off, an ulcer.
ANNOUNCER: Mary Lou Jacobs, like Bob, now, too, is doing well. In her case, medication is keeping her disease under control. The real IBD tragedy in the family was what happened to the Jacobs' son, Brian. His story starts with a doctor who, the Jacobs say, was quick to dismiss a diagnosis of Crohn's disease.
MARY LOU JACOBS: Brian was 18. And he was anemic and had had diarrhea for quite a while. And the pediatrician kept saying, "He's anorexic." It was his first year of college. He's not adjusting. And I kept saying, "No, you've got the wrong person."
The first thing I said, "Do you think he has Crohn's disease?"
He said, "Oh, no, absolutely not."
ANNOUNCER: Over the next few years, Brian's symptoms got worse. In the Summer of 1992, when Brian was 24, he underwent surgery.
BOB JACOBS: Things just went downhill from the sixth day post-op. He was taking massive doses of immunosuppressive drugs. They compromised his immune system. And he literally came apart surgically at the site of the anastomosis. Peritonitis set in and then it was all downhill from that point. He never left the hospital. He died on December 12th.
ANNOUNCER: Families like the Jacobs's provided evidence of a genetic link in IBD from the time Crohn's disease was first identified.
