Rick: My name's Rick. I'm a safety and training specialist. I'm a paw-paw and I'm a rodeo judge. I live every day with FCS, Familial chylomicronemia syndrome. Day-to-day living with FCS can be rough. You have a lot of brain fog. You have very low energy. I like to explain it as walking through a muddy field with boots filled with sand.
Rick: I've been hospitalized with pancreatitis honestly more times than I can count. All of a sudden you start having stomach pains and nausea and severe cramping. Debilitating. I mean it is truly the most pain you'll ever be in.
Rick: I've experienced symptoms of FCS my entire life. I am 55 years old, probably have been diagnosed for 10 years, found through a blood test. We know what it is now, we have a name. My wife has been by my side through this whole process since we were teenagers.
Kim: Rick and I met showing horses and we were married on his 18th birthday.
Rick: When we were dating, she got her firsthand look at an FCS attack on a date at the drive in theater. She drove me home and stayed as long as she could stay to see that I was going to be OK. We had talked about the condition that at that time didn't have a name. She married me anyway. I wouldn't be here without her. She's my rock.
Kim: When Rick was first diagnosed, it was it was scary to not know anything about FCS.
Rick: My doctors begin to explain to me, OK, this is the reason why you have high triglycerides. This is the reason why you have high cholesterol. This is why you have pancreatitis. You should be on a very strict diet. This is a genetic defect.
Rick: This is nothing that can be fixed. This is this is going to be with me forever. It's like living with a ticking time bomb that is going to go off. You don't know when, but it will.
Rick: It's all about family and living our best life with FCS. It's always a challenge. Tomorrow is never promised, but you live the best you can when you can.
Kim: If we can get that word out to other people that it is a real thing and that high triglycerides that are causing those pancreatic attacks could be a sign of FCS and to be able to help other people, that's the most important thing to both of us. Our hope for the future of the community is for every one of them, for them to feel good.
Rick: You're not alone. There are others out there with FCS. There's a whole family of us out here that are looking forward to meeting you. There is hope.
