1. Westminster professor and son write book about struggle with health care system
By Carole Mikita, Deseret News
Published: Monday, Dec. 12 2011 1:38 p.m. MST
Summary
The Whitings have a family tradition. As each child turns 13, he or she goes on a "teen trip." The out-
of-town experience with their son Kevin in 2007 began innocently enough but soon turned into a
nightmarish journey through the health care system.
“I was screaming in the back of the plane. I felt horrible for the other passengers.”
PARK CITY — The Whitings have a family tradition. As each child turns 13, he or she goes on a
"teen trip." The out-of-town experience with their son Kevin in 2007 began innocently enough but
soon turned into a nightmarish journey through the health care system.
Vicki Whiting, a business professor at Westminster College, took Kevin to California in March where
she had an interview with famed basketball coach John Wooden. That's when Kevin's intestinal pain
began.
"On the plane ride home from that, it just became excruciating," Kevin said. "I was screaming in the
back of the plane. I felt horrible for the other passengers."
Kevin’s severe abdominal pain was a mystery, constantly misdiagnosed. At one point, medication
pushed Kevin toward suicide and the entire family to the edge. What he and his mother learned led the
two to publish a book titled, "In Pain We Trust," an examination of the family's ordeal with Kevin's
health and the health care system they relied on.
"I'm a researcher by training," Vicki Whiting said, "and it took every bit of my research training to keep
Kevin alive."
Many doctor visits and hospital stays followed that plane ride home, but his condition only worsened.
"Unbeknownst to us, a doctor had used shorthand to describe his appearance as anorexic," Vicki
recalled. "However, because it was in his medical charts, it was interpreted, and each subsequent visit,
Mikita, Carole. "Westminster professor and son write book about struggle with health care
system." Deseret News. Deseret News, 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

2. to be anorexia nervosa, which is a real disease, and it's a bad disease, but it wasn't Kevin's disease."
Because certain doctors wrote him off as anorexic, Kevin says he was really frustrated. "I was writhing
in pain, and they'd keep asking me stupid questions like, 'Do you get bullied?' ... and trying to diagnose
me as depressed."
Shredding phone books distracted Kevin from the pain that came in waves. Morphine did not help.
The family says Kevin being "labeled" prevented a correct diagnosis for a year and a half. Kevin was
now more than 5 feet tall and weighed only 63 pounds. The pain prevented him from eating much.
One doctor prescribed an antidepressant. The increased strength of the drug caused Kevin to become
suicidal.
The family could never leave Kevin alone for fear of what he might do.
"I remember sitting on the bed and just asking him if he couldn't live for himself, maybe he could live
for us," Vicki said.
She said they needed to get away, so they traveled to Australia, where they found medical professionals
who listened without preconceived notions of what was ailing Kevin. They found pain medications
unavailable in the United States and advice to help wean him off antidepressants. All of it at lower
costs than in Utah.
Outside of the medical treatment, Kevin found that naps with a baby kangaroo at a wildlife preserve
also helped him restore his will to live.
Still, the Whitings didn't find the cure or even a correct diagnosis abroad.
The correct diagnosis would come not long after their return to Utah, when a family friend and
physician looked into the case and determined Kevin was suffering from Wilkies syndrome, a rare
blockage of the intestine caused by exterior pressure from a large artery.
Since surgery to correct the problem, Kevin's health has improved and he has put on a little weight. But
he still has to watch what he eats and sees doctors on a regular basis for follow-ups.
A senior at Park City High School, Kevin volunteers at the new hospital there.
"I've decided I want to become a surgeon when I get older, so I want to go through med school and try
Mikita, Carole. "Westminster professor and son write book about struggle with health care
system." Deseret News. Deseret News, 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

3. and make a difference in the health care system," he said.
They share their story, subtitled, “A Conversation Between Mother and Son on the Journey from
Sickness to Health,” to create awareness.
Mikita, Carole. "Westminster professor and son write book about struggle with health care
system." Deseret News. Deseret News, 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.