Kalispell man endures genetic pancreatitis

For years, doctors attributed Jackson Hokanson’s disease to excessive drinking. But he wasn’t an alcoholic.

Hokanson, 37, has been sick most of his life. As a child he had stomachaches. His mom thought maybe he had a sensitive stomach. But the pain grew into frequent hospital visits for long-standing inflammation of the pancreas — often a symptom of alcoholism.

By the time he was 15, doctors were trying to connect Hokanson to Alcoholics Anonymous.

“They used to write me prescriptions for AA and say that I must have really been drinking a lot to get this,” he said.

Though a diagnosis was more than a decade away, Hokanson’s symptoms matched chronic pancreatitis. The disease is an inflammation of the pancreas — the organ that produces enzymes needed to digest food.

The disease gets worse over time and is irreversible.

According to a 2011 study printed by the American Gastroenterological Association, while alcohol is the disease’s most common trigger, a larger fraction of patients in the study had non-alcoholic causes.

“It took a while for people to hear that,” Hokanson said. “Especially in the beginning — I think that there was, and can still be, that stigma of ‘you did this to yourself.’”

On a recent afternoon, Hokanson watched his 6-year-old daughter wipe down the kitchen table in their Kalispell home. His wife poured coffee while his 13-year-old son followed the family dog from one room to the next.

Hokanson sat on the living room couch, crouched over an electric heating pad he held around his waist.

FOR roughly 10 years, Hokanson’s symptoms seemed to disappear. He and his wife Christina had hoped that meant he aged out of “those issues.”

He was a cook in a halfway house called Alternative Youth Care in 2009 when he began feeling a “stabbing” in his upper abdomen. The feeling came back each day.

“Chronic pancreatitis patients’ pain comes out in different ways,” Hokanson said. “For me, it’s an aching and throbbing and radiates out the left side of my back.”

Among the groups evaluated in the 2011 study, 44.5 percent of patients had chronic pancreatitis due to alcohol consumption; 28.6 percent had an unknown cause and 26.9 percent had it for non-alcohol-related reasons.

Last month, a test confirmed Hokanson fell into the latter category. His disease is genetic.

“In doing this test, we knew it would only tell the doctors that we’re actually battling a disease here,” Christina said.

It also meant the disease could have been passed down to their children, Hokanson added.

He looked at his daughter as she sat on the couch. She pulled her feet together and played with her toes.

“She has stomachaches sometimes,” he said.

WHILE Hokanson’s diagnosis meant a lifetime of balancing his pain, it led him to push harder for his goals.

Christina said his work at the halfway home became hard to manage through the pain.

“He loved those kids, went to their school meetings, after school activities, their AA meetings,” she said. “Working with those boys inspired him. At that point when he got that diagnosis, it was like ‘what will we do with our lives?’ We needed to find something that would fit him.”

In 2009, Hokanson began online classes at the University of Montana for social work. Somehow, between the hospital visits, pain attacks and working, “he graduated in the top of his class,” Christina said. “He was even asked to give the graduation speech.”

Hokanson is now working toward his master’s degree, while also working at Pathways Treatment Center in Kalispell. Each Monday, Christina drives him to his day of classes in Missoula.

She said she keeps odd jobs that allow her to quickly change roles between employee, caretaker, mom or student. She’s studying medical coding at Flathead Valley Community College.

“It can feel a little hopeless, watching him in pain, and the unending medical bills,” she said. “But we have to try and get ahead in life; we can’t be stuck.”

Hokanson said he will walk in his graduation June 4. The following day, he and Christina will drive to Minnesota for a pancreas transplant to lower his risk of pancreatic cancer — another threat tied to his disease.

Hokanson said even with the transplant, he’ll face chronic pain throughout his life.

He said finding answers to his illness hasn’t made it easier. But it’s motivated him to work through the pain.

“It’s the only option we have,” he said.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.

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Family friends are organizing a fundraiser to help pay for Jackson Hokanson’s medical bills. It will take place May 20 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Flathead Valley Community College Arts and Technology Building. The event will include a silent auction, music and food. For silent auction details, visit Hope for Jackson or @Hope4Jack on Facebook.

To offer support for Hokanson’s medical bills, visit https://www.gofundme.com/hope4jack.