Advocate Children's patient from Evergreen Park serves as honorary Cubs Bat Kid Sunday

Dominic Garcia received VIP treatment through Advocate Health Care's Bat Kid program

Submitted by Adam Widman

Dominic Garcia, a 9-year-old Cubs fan from Evergreen Park, who has battled and overcome a number of serious health issues and has endured more than 40 hospitalizations in his life, enjoyed a memorable afternoon Sunday, Aug. 6, at Wrigley Field. Garcia served as Advocate Health Care's Honorary Cubs Bat Kid as the Cubs took on their division rival St. Louis Cardinals.

Dominic, who was accompanied by his mother, Mia, father, David, and sister, Gianna, sat in the dugout and enjoyed batting practice before the game, met with several players, receive a customized jersey, a baseball for players to sign and was featured on the video board and Marquee Sports Network during the game. He even got to meet and take photos with manager David Ross.

"He has missed out on so much, which just isn't fair. But he is the most amazingly brave and strong boy I have ever met," said his mother, Mia. "He is our real-life superhero. He has been through so much, but he still manages to smile and laugh and put a big smile on everyone's faces. He is an inspiration to many for so many reasons. We hope there will be continued treatment options one day, but as of now this remains an extremely rare and complex disease with no cure and limited treatments."

Dominic's struggle started when he was 3 months old after he was diagnosed with CIPO (Chronic Intestinal Pseudo Obstruction). He was born with an enlarged neurogenic bladder and required intermittent catheterization. He started having GI issues and the more he started to eat regular foods, the more stomach and intestinal problems he encountered.

Dominic had multiple tests done to figure out a proper diagnosis. He had bladder tests and upper and lower GI studies, MRI's, X-rays, ultrasounds, motility manometry studies, and full thickness biopsies from his intestines. Ultimately, the genetic testing is what confirmed and pinpointed a mutated gene that caused his Chronic Intestinal Pseudo Obstruction and Hollow Visceral Myopathy. This means the muscles of the hollow organs were not functioning as they should, including intestinal and bladder muscles.

Dominic has been hospitalized at least 40 times, and life has been rough for he and his family to say the least. Dominic has endured three major surgeries, including an ileostomy (ostomy bag), gastrotomy tube and jejunostomy tube placement, bowel resection, and colostomy revision. He has endured hundreds of tests throughout his 9 years of life, has been forced to miss a lot of school and other child experiences.