Published in the Delta ATLAS, Delta, Ohio
Like a Phoenix Rising
By Sharie Clausen
Like a phoenix, the legendary bird who was held to live for centuries, who died from fire, then rose fresh and new from its ashes- T.H.E. Health Food Store has now been transferred to new owners, The Bowman’s, with the help of Stazy Lind, T.H.E. Health Food Store owner, to the Arrowpeak Healing Farm, located on County Road 17, between roads K and L. Stazy said she decided to help Brian and Debra Bowman start up their own new version of her former health food store because, “Again, we were filling a need. After 10 years, I wanted the public to have access to quality products.” Stazy said she is still “on call” for busy times or vacations.
The Bowman Family’s winding road to beginning and now running the Arrowpeak Healing Farm pulls at the heart strings. Their son, Samuel was born in 2001 and by the time he turned 18 months old his parent’s, Brian and Debra Bowman, who are both certified RN’s, knew something was wrong and kept taking him to their family doctor. The family doctor, however, did not think anything was wrong with Samuel’s heart because he didn’t hear a murmur. The doctor became convinced something was wrong, when Samuel turned 2 years old and could walk but wouldn’t because he wasn’t well enough to. Their family doctor ordered an Echocardiogram that takes a picture by soundwaves of the heart. Upon seeing the severity of Samuel’s health problem, the technician running the test stopped and called Dr. Fouad Butto, the pediatric cardiologist at The Children’s Heart Center of Toledo. Dr. Butto diagnosed Samuel with Tetrology of Fallot (means having 4 different problems related to the heart) with Pulmonary Atresia, (an exacerbation of one of those heart problems) and diminutive pulmonary arteries from the descending aorta. The reason that their family doctor couldn’t hear a heart murmur before was because Samuel’s pulmonary artery was blocked and so they couldn’t even hear it; the problem was so bad.
Samuel was immediately admitted to the Children’s Intensive Care Unit and the very next day was rushed to Mott Children’s Hospital, at the University of Michigan. Within 4 days of completing all of the preliminary tests there, Samuel had his first open heart surgery the day before Christmas Eve 2003, when he was only 25 months old.
Samuel was sent home on New Years Day 2004. He had only been home for 6 hours when he quit breathing and came within inches of dying. They tried getting through the large bureaucracy of the university hospital to report the emergency but weren’t getting through, so Brian hung up and dialed 9-1-1, while Debra gave Samuel CPR. An ambulance was sent and then two Life Flight helicopters arrived at the local hospital; one to take Samuel to Mott Children’s Hospital and one to take him to Toledo Children’s Hospital. Dr. Butto wanted him back under his care, so Samuel was Life Flighted to Toledo Children’s Hospital.
Brian Bowman talked of some of the wonderful people in our area who have helped his family when they were in need. While Debbie was with Samuel in hospitals for basically 8 weeks in a row and Brian was there as much as possible, they ended up at the Ronald McDonald House next to the Toledo Children’s Hospital. Brian and Debra had only been living in our area for a little over 2 years and had to call on the few local neighbors they knew to take care of the animals on their farm. Brian said, “I tried to explain the problem and you break down crying and you know you’re just a burden to these people.” The neighbor’s came through for them. One picked the cattle up and took care of them at his own barn. Another neighbor came and took their goats to her place and milked them every morning before work. Then another neighbor would take the goat’s milk that Samuel liked to whatever hospital Samuel was at, even all the way to Ann Arbor. Brian said, “Yeah, this is what kind of community we live in. I mean, it’s not Chicago or New York. This is rural Northwest Ohio and it’s good, it’s really good.”
While Sam was at the Toledo Children’s Hospital he was getting many oral medications that tasted horrible that they had to force him to swallow down. He got upset and quit eating. So they put a naso-gastric tube down (G-Tube) that went through his nose down his throat and into his stomach and started feeding him the standard hospital formula. Brian and Debra knew from their former nursing professor that people who are on these commercially canned (feeding tube) formulas, both adults and children, have a condition that’s called ‘failure to thrive’. ” Because it was his own son that was on it now, Brian took a closer look at the list of ingredients and found out that it was, “Nothing but sugar water with a little bit of milk powder thrown in and some vitamins. They say that is complete nutrition and it’s horrible.” The nurses started bringing in cans of formula that said new and improved. Brian looked at the ingredients and found the company had switched the second highest ingredient, sugar, for a cheaper substitute- high fructose corn syrup. Samuel was in pretty bad shape and Brian knew that Samuel wouldn’t survive on this standard tube feeding formula.
Brian researched and experimented to come up with the perfect ‘whole food’ feeding tube formula for Samuel’s particular medical needs- including his acid reflux. The Bowman’s first met Stazy Lind at her health food store for her help with making Samuel’s Formula and getting needed ingredients for the formula at her store. When Brian got the start of an ulcer, Stazy was able to help him get off of the prescribed drug he was given for it with natural remedies to alleviate the condition. He said with the natural stuff you feel so much better- rather than just suppressing symptoms without getting to the underlying cause, which is what drugs do so much of the time. The final version of Samuel’s Formula, that was approved for use by Samuel’s doctor, is shown in a 3 part video on the web which includes Samuel’s medical history, their reasons for beginning their own formula, how to make the formula and adjust it for a child or adult with different medical or nutritional needs and the wonderful results of Samuel’s Formula on Samuel’s own health-including the amazing feat of being only 6 years old and having recovered well from 12 open heart surgeries! The Bowman’s ask that if their video contributes positively to a person’s life that views it that they voluntarily donate $17 by the secure online Amazon Honor System for Samuel’s huge medical bills and his education fund. Their web site is found at www.samuelsformula.com.
Brian Bowman uses his knowledge from medical school, his experiences gained from former travels as an Airline Transport Pilot, and his accumulated nutritional knowledge from dealing with Samuel’s medical condition to help people who come to the Arrowpeak Healing Farm with finding their favorite health foods, supplements, herbs, homeopathic remedies and essential oils. His wife Debra also has extensive medical knowledge and experience. She was Charge Nurse at a large Indiana hospital over the entire Intensive Care Unit and Coronary Care Unit and is currently a Critical Care Nurse in Critical Care (CCU) and in the Emergency Room at Fulton County Health Center. She also helps out at the health food store when she can. Brian said, “Samuel really accelerated our journey into health food on a personal level. We became experts at it because of Sam.”
There is a pump that still feeds Samuels Formula to Samuel at night even though Samuel is now able to eat about 50 to 60% of his calories. This is because kids with heart problems need extra calories because their heart is working like an adults after they’ve run 4 miles. Samuel’s is working like that all the time. While he is thriving despite his heart condition, in large part to Samuel’s Formula, the current status of six year old Samuel was explained by Samuel himself, “I have a broken heart.” Samuel recently had his shunt replaced with Gortex, a unique material that was developed for the space program and is also used in coats today. The Gortex inside of him is keeping him alive. Brian said, “In some aspects it’s bad. They have quit trying to fix the problem. The last 3 surgeries were unsuccessful…So they’ve given up on Sam. Not on him living, but on the technical aspect of trying to fix it.” They have gotten second opinions and are trying to look at other options now. A surgeon from Columbus Children’s Hospital looks promising who did a triple transfer of organs such as the heart and lungs with three patients on the operating table at the same time instead of the usual double transfer, or two patients.
At the Arrowpeak Healing Farm, much of the farm has been converted to native pasture that is home to their Scottish Highland Beef, chickens, goats, and a therapy pony named Misty that has helped Samuel recover from his many surgeries. They don’t use hormones for their cattle, which have been linked to cancers and early onset of puberty in girls. They don’t use antibiotics in their cattle which the World Health Organization has recommended banning. These are only a few of the many benefits that are touted of their Scottish Highland Beef that the Arrowpeak Healing Farm sells shares of. They also make their own soaps in a variety of scents including lavender that are sold at their store and made from their own goats’ milk.
If you would like to visit the Arrowpeak Healing Farm, our local area’s only health food store, their hours are Monday through Friday 9-7 and Saturday 9-2. If you have questions for Brian and Debra Bowman about their Scottish Highland Beef Shares or about a medical problem they might be able to help you with you can contact them by phone at 419-335-6569 or through their contact page on their web site at www.samuelsformula.com . I encourage you to meet this wonderful family, now with the addition of their little boy named Wolf and ask how Brian and Debra met, that is another great story that has to be told first hand!