Shannon's Story
Before discovering Enterra® Therapy, Shannon believed gastroparesis would end his life. Today, through his faith and the help of this therapy, he and his family are thriving again.
Shannon had struggled with health issues since childhood, so it’s hard for him to pinpoint when the gastroparesis truly began. By his mid-thirties, his body almost stopped digesting food altogether. Within just two weeks, his weight dropped from 210 to 150 pounds. A gastric emptying test finally confirmed the diagnosis: severe gastroparesis.
Those first years were brutal.
Shannon recalls losing 60 pounds and feeling weaker by the day. It took nearly four long years between diagnosis and finally receiving the Enterra® Therapy implant.
His wife, DeeDee, had never heard of the condition before. “He tried every medication they suggested, but nothing helped,” she remembers. “He was constantly dehydrated, and we were in and out of the hospital. It felt like our life was on pause.”
The illness hit the entire family hard. Their oldest daughter was just two years old when Shannon got sick. The once-energetic pastor who worked 60 hours a week could barely get out of bed. Simple family moments vanished. Holidays passed with Shannon too ill to join in. One Christmas, he sat in a recliner watching TV, too weak to celebrate. “That was my lowest point,” he says quietly. “I was ready to give up.”
Hope returned when a compassionate doctor suggested gastric electrical stimulation. He thought Shannon could be a good candidate for the Enterra® Therapy System. DeeDee was hesitant at first—Shannon had faced complications from surgery before—but he was determined to try. “I was desperate,” he says. “I told them, ‘Let’s do it now.’”
The road to recovery wasn’t instant. At first, Shannon felt worse and feared the end was near. He quit his job and moved home with his family, ready to give up. “I truly believed I was dying,” he admits.
Yet every Sunday, something pushed him out of bed—his faith. He still preached at small churches when he could. One of those churches eventually invited him to be their pastor. That renewed purpose, combined with Enterra® Therapy, slowly began to heal him.
Over the next 6–10 months, Shannon’s strength and appetite returned. The weight came back. His energy followed. “It was amazing,” he says. “I didn’t look like a skeleton anymore. My muscles came back. I finally felt alive again.”
Seven years later, Shannon and his family have rebuilt their lives. The girls are healthy and happy. The constant hospital visits are long behind them. DeeDee sees the change every day: “He rarely misses anything now. He’s himself again.”
Shannon still carries the memories of that dark period, but his perspective has shifted. “A pastor friend once told me, ‘Don’t let your illness define you.’ That stuck with me. Now I focus on what I can do, not what I’ve lost.”
