PBHS baseball player in hospital with rare disease

McIntosh

UPDATE: There will be a prayer gathering for Bobby McIntosh, who is in a St. Louis hospital with a rare autoimmunce disease, at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Strenfel Memorial Field at Poplar Bluff High School.

Bobby McIntosh, Poplar Bluff's leading hitter on the baseball team this spring, is in a St. Louis hospital battling a rare disease.

Rob Tate has the story in Friday's DAR. Here's part of his story:

A rare autoimmune disease has left a Poplar Bluff student-athlete in serious condition at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Bobby McIntosh, 17, an incoming senior and a varsity baseball player for the Mules is fighting off a rare disease -- Wegener's Granulomatosis -- that is inflammation of blood vessels of the body, most often the respiratory tract and kidneys.

...

(McIntosh's) family (was) explained by the doctors that Wegener's disease is highly-treatable but the way the disease works is that normal immune systems fight off colds and flu but the Wegener's fights against that process.

According to Vasculitis Foundation, 1-in-20,000 to 1-in-30,000 get the disease. The disease is not contagious and there is no evidence that it is hereditary. There is no know cause for the disease.

...

McIntosh started off the summer playing for Senior Legion Poplar Bluff Express baseball team until making his intial trip to the hospital.

This past spring, McIntosh was Poplar Bluff's varsity baseball captain and one of its top hitters.

You can follow a blog for updates on McIntosh here www.carepages.com/carepages/Bobby22 (registration is involved) or there is a group set up on Facebook members can join the group "Prayers for Bobby Mac."