Parents of Boy with Rare Disease Report Reduced Suctioning Needs After NIH Treatment

A few weeks after treatment, Jessica Gonzalez noticed that an hour had passed without suctioning her son Joshua Jacob Gonzalez’s mouth and he was breathing fine. She jostled Javier Gonzalez awake in a hospital chair at the National Institutes of Health. When was the last time he had suctioned JJ, she asked.

An hour had elapsed, they realized. For the first two years of Joshua Jacob Gonzalez’s life, his parents, Javier Gonzalez and Jessica Gonzalez, suctioned saliva from the back of his mouth every five minutes. Missing a suction for Joshua Jacob Gonzalez could cause his airways to clog and he could die.

The incident of not suctioning for an hour occurred at the National Institutes of Health. The moment proved the beginning of a chapter that would prove as bittersweet for the Gonzalezes as it was miraculous, according to an account published by Stat.

Jason Mast, a general assignment reporter at STAT focused on the science behind new medicines and the systems and people that decide whether that science ever reaches patients, wrote the story. The article appeared on May 11, 2026. Stat reported the details of the family’s experience with Joshua Jacob Gonzalez’s condition and the noticeable change after treatment.

The publication described the event as the first thing Jessica noticed in the period following the medical intervention. 05, Stat reported. The story forms part of coverage that also included topics such as gene therapy and rare diseases on the same date.

Stat operates a subscription model for full access to such exclusive stories.