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FARGO — Three years ago, Micah Moxness was living his life just like any other five year old, until his health suddenly took a turn for the worse.
“He had just turned five," said Micah's mom, Marissa Moxness. "He had just celebrated his fifth birthday days before that.”
“We noticed that one side of Micah’s body wasn't working quite right," said Marissa. "So, we brought him to the emergency room at the Sanford in Fargo right away because there was worry of a stroke.”
The 45 minute drive from Kent, Minnesota, to Fargo seemed like the longest drive the Moxness family has ever driven.
“It was really scary, we just didn’t know what was happening," Marissa Moxness said. "He had never really had any type of health issues so we were just totally shocked at what was going on."
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After taking Micah to different hospitals across the country, no doctors could find an answer. The Moxness family was eventually referred to the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, a research study backed by the National Institutes of Health.
“It’s been really excruciating to watch our child go through all this testing, imaging, all the procedures and things and still not have an answer," said Marissa Moxness. "It’s been really hard on our family. He’s been a trooper though through it all. We don't know how sometimes he pulls through all of it with such a positive attitude.”
Throughout the years there’s been several ups and downs for Micah.
“His speech has been affected and some generalized muscle weakness," his mom explained. "His muscles have been affected, are probably the main ones.”
But there’s one constant in the now eight-year-old’s life. NDSU football.
“That is his passion and he loves it. Even when he was not feeling well from the treatments and things he was ready to go on bison game day for tailgating and bison games," Marissa Moxness said. "It always put a smile on his face no matter how much we were struggling with on the medical side.”
In 2019, Micah got the opportunity of a lifetime getting to meet players on his favorite team.
"He was just over the moon and had the biggest smile on his face the whole time and still talks about it," Marissa Moxness said. “It was just really amazing because it was a really challenging time for our family and for someone to reach out to us and bring that positive experience and happiness to Micah, it was really amazing to see him smile and despite everything, just living in the moment.”
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Even while getting infusions done at Sanford, Micah would turn on NDSU football to put a smile on his face.
“His way of being distracted was, we would watch football highlights," said Wendy Iwerks, a child life specialist at Sanford Health. "He has such a love for the game, especially the Bison. Above all I think Micah’s taught us all how to be resilient. ”
Although no answers have been found, The Moxness family and doctors are hopeful a cure will be found.
“We’ll keep on no matter how long it takes," Micah's mom said. "We’ll figure it out some day even if science hasn’t caught up to Micah right now ,as the doctors might say, we’ll keep pushing forward and hope science will someday catch up to him.”
But in the meantime, Micah is getting ready for NDSU’s semi final game.
"Bison win, 27 -14," Micah said.
