Tanner, 7, on the mend after surgery

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Drew Tanner, 7, is learning to enjoy his life again after undergoing surgery at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital last year. Before surgery, Drew was reliant on heavy duty pain killers. (Photo courtesy of Dana Johnson/Vanderbilt)

For years, Drew Tanner, 7, has lived with pain.

That pain has been the result of suffering from pancreatitis, which doctors diagnosed when he was just a toddler. While there is a family history of the condition and they knew what they would be facing, the pain got to a point where medication and diet as a method of coping were no longer working, Drew’s mother Dana said.

Last fall, Drew endured an intensive 10-hour operation at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. But before that, Tanner endured frequent hospital stays and stomach pain during attacks.

According to Vanderbilt experts who featured the Warren County resident in a recent publication announcing their annual “Paper Sale” fund-raiser, pancreatitis is a gastro-intestinal disorder characterized by episodic abdominal pain and stomach cramps.

Pancreatic enzymes, which normally are released into the small intestine to help digest food, become activated prematurely while still in the pancreas, which causes injury to the surrounding tissue. Attacks lead to pain and inflammation, but eventually pancreatic scarring and malabsorption may result.

“We were at the point where we just had to have it done. We were at the point where he had to take pain medication every four hours, even in the middle of the night,” Dana Tanner said of her son’s operation.

Drew underwent a surgery in September where his small intestine was connected directly to his pancreas so the enzymes would be released more easily. Today, Drew is doing great and has gained eight pounds.

As this weekend’s paper sale fund-raiser gets under way, Tanner said she is appreciative of efforts that might make stays similar to her son’s more comfortable.

Russell Watson, who leads the Warren County Chapter of the Future Farmer’s of America, will be soliciting funds at Wal-Mart for the hospital today, following up from solicitations there yesterday.

Watson does not know the Tanner family but said the fund-raiser, formerly known as the Palm Sunday Paper Sale, is something he has participated in for years. He said about 200 local children have been to the hospital there in the past year.

Contributions will be used for hospital equipment and recreational activities and Tanner noted the hospital has a play room and even a school for children.