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From Jesse, child's age 11

Parents, I just want to share my experience as a dad, A year ago this weekend my son Leo passed away. He was 12 and a half and in 7th grade. He had been a slender little boy, then gained a lot of weight and was 225 pounds at age 12. During the summer of 2019, he was involved in a science explorers program at his school, and he grew about 2 inches taller and lost 20 pounds without trying. A year ago today he woke up feeling sick to his stomach and didn't eat. He threw up the soup I gave him for lunch and I took him to the pediatrician that afternoon (luckily I got an appointment). The pediatrician examined him and told me Leo probably had a mild gastroenteritis and said with a big grin on his face "he's probably just been eating too much cookies and candy". I didn't say anthing. The doctor said it would pass in a few days. Two days later, Leo was still sick and I called the doctor that morning and he said to give it a couple more days and it work "work it's way out of his system ". That afternoon, Leo looked terrible so I took him to the ER The doctors there did tests, then told me Leo had appendicitis and he would need immediate surgery. His appendix burst as he was being anesthetized and he died the next day from blood poisoning (sepsis). I want to share my experience with you because childhood appendicitis doesn't always show classic symptoms (pain on lower right side). The pediatrician didn't order lab tests that would have shown Leo had a serious infection. The worse part was that he just dismissed my boy because of his size. "He's probably just been eating too much cookies and candy."----i'll never forget that. I beat myself up every day because at that point I should have taken my son and demanded to see another pediatrician.