Organization raising $10k to send family of teen receiving treatment in San Francisco on Hawaii trip

SAN FRANCISCO - A Minnesota family is hoping to go on the trip of a lifetime. The non-profit One At A Time is trying to raise $10,000 by the end of the year to send the Wicklund family on a dream trip to Hawaii, after years of struggling with their 15-year-old son Isaac's illnesses. 

"Since he was a tiny baby we knew something was wrong, but it took a long time to figure out the different pieces. He has multiple diagnoses," said Kara Wicklund, Isaac's mom. 

Kara said Isaac was initially diagnosed with Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS), a dysfunction of his immune system.

"He had been treated for that, but there were other pieces to his picture that, even though he was getting treatment, just didn’t clear up. And those were things like he would have episodes for weeks at a time where he couldn’t walk, he was too weak. Or he was having a hard time holding his head up, he would choke on things, and he would get kind of floppy. And that’s not part of the CAPS picture at all," said Wicklund.

The family found a team of doctors at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital who were able to help explain those other symptoms and diagnose Isaac with Seronegative Myasthenia Gravis, a weakness of his body.

"Isaac’s version is generalized, which means that it’s his whole body, including things like the muscles that control food moving through his system, his diaphragm so breathing, swallowing muscles, more of the life critical muscles, his are affected that way," said Wicklund. 

These disorders have caused him to go into respiratory crisis multiple times, including right before the family's planned trip to Hawaii a few years ago. Each time, Isaac ends up on a ventilator in the ICU. 

But getting preventative treatment in San Francisco has been able to help him. 

"Where we are, if he goes into crisis they can help by putting him on a ventilator, but he doesn’t actually have access to treatment here that will keep him from needing the ventilator for longer periods of time," said Wicklund.

His mom said the family has been pouring out money to travel back and forth to San Francisco, and Isaac ends up missing a lot of important family moments. 

Isaac was shocked to hear One At A Time wanted to help sponsor a dream trip for him and his family, saying it felt too good to be true. 

"I didn’t think it was real. I was like ok, let’s see where it goes," he said.  

The family hopes if enough money is raised, they'll finally all get to go on a trip not centered around breathing tubes and hospital rooms. 

"I think it’s a really amazing opportunity for our entire family to experience some normalcy together because we’re split and spread across the country and we miss holidays," said Wicklund. "He missed his sister’s wedding. There’s a lot of big things that we miss as a family and so to have an opportunity like this to be together and experience something that’s so amazing would be really healing for all of us."

To donate, you can visit: https://www.campaignoaat.org/isaacstrong. You can also contribute via Venmo (@campaignoaat) using the hashtag #IsaacStrong.