WATCH: Penticton mother says Variety charity saved her son

PENTICTON – A Penticton boy who struggles with Crohn’s disease and arthritis didn’t know why he was in so much pain for years. Now, at 17-years-old the teen says his life is finally routine again. This after Variety – The Children’s Charity helped his mother pay for his medication and treatments at B.C. Children’s Hospital. His mom, Nicole Bakker – a single parent of three teens – says her son was having severe stomach problems, losing weight too fast and was overall very weak.

“It was scary. He was a twig. So thin, just pale as a ghost and not something any mom wants to see,” says Bakker.

She says it took two years and many visits to specialists in Vancouver to determine what was wrong. Chrohn’s is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines. On top of that, Sebastiaan has arthritis.

“I had to use crutches and wheelchairs before because I could walk,” he says.

Once doctors made the diagnosis, they placed Sebastiaan on several rounds of medications until finally they found one that has helped him turn his life around.

“When they first started it, it was like night and day,” says Bakker. “It was amazing to see him actually be able to walk properly without those joints hurting and the Crohn’s stopped flaring up as often and it was fantastic.”

She says she wouldn’t have been able to provide the medicine for him without Variety – which she says has paid the deductible for all of Sebastiaan’s medications.

“He wouldn’t be taking it if it was through my pocket because I just, I can’t afford it,” she says.

Variety’s annual Show of Hearts Telethon is this weekend. It gives many sick or special needs children an opportunity to share their story, ones that remind Sebastiaan of his childhood.

“Just seeing those kids makes me remember that I was like that,” says Sebastiaan.

While he still feels pain and symptoms once in a while, Sebastiaan says he’s just happy to have a routine lifestyle again. Variety’s Show of Hearts Telethon will be aired live on Global BC on Saturday and Sunday. Click here for more information.