Oral Vancomycin Saves High School Football Star from Unnecessary Intestinal Surgery

Luke was in stage two liver fibrosis in high school. He couldn’t find remission from his ulcerative colitis and his gastroenterologist was planning an ERCP and colectomy surgery until he was placed on vancomycin for a C. diff infection.

His symptoms immediately improved on vancomycin and, thankfully, his hepatologist was willing to prescribe the antibiotic. Luke’s mother, Jeni, shares his full story below. Keep reading for your daily dose of inspiration!

In August 2016, Luke started experiencing pain under his sternum. Initially, he didn’t have any symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease and his colonoscopy was totally normal; but liver labs were high. Between August 2016 and March 2017, Luke was hospitalized nine times at four different hospitals in four different cities. He began to have symptoms of IBD.

In March of 2017, he was diagnosed with PSC and Crohn’s, which was changed to an ulcerative colitis diagnosis the following year. This was after countless testing and misdiagnoses. During his first hospitalization, he was given antibiotics on and off. He always showed improvement when the antibiotics were started.

He was sent home and his labs normalized for a few weeks until he was taken off them and he flared up again. Because of this, we wanted to find a doctor who would let him try vancomycin. His gastroenterologist was not on board, but eventually, his hepatologist was willing to give it a try.

Prior to this, his gastroenterologist had sent him for a consultation with as surgeon because he’d failed sulfa drugs, Humira, and Entyvio. The doctor planned to let Luke finish his senior football season and then have him undergo surgery over Christmas break. Luke’s gastrointestinal symptoms, liver numbers, weight, and quality of life continued to worsen. He had many side effects from his procedures and the meds he’d tried. Also, he had more diarrhea from the iron infusions that were supposed to help his anemia.

In October 2018, his gastroenterologist pushed for an ERCP and was planning a colectomy when Luke got C. diff. He was given vancomycin to treat it. Within a few days he was felling better. His labs and symptoms continued to improve and he regained over 40 pounds.

In June 2019, his colonoscopy was normal. In June 2021, his FibroScan was normal, and so were his labs. He now takes the ANI Pharmaceuticals brand and opens the capsules. It has given him his life back! We are so thankful!