Warrior Shea
Donation protected
Our names our Michael and Mandy, parents of our sweet daughter Shea who recently passed away. She was one day short of 6 months old and had an extremely tough battle with an infection that turned septic. This is her story.
It started on a Saturday when Shea was not feeling well. She maintained a high fever therefore we took her to our local clinic to get her seen. They claimed it was a viral infection and she just needed to rest. The next day, Monday, she was still not feeling well. We made her an appointment with her pediatrician. At this time, they diagnosed her with an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics.
Tuesday Night, Shea took a turn for the worst. Her fever spiked and she became extremely lethargic. Mandy rushed her to Anne Arundel Medical Center while Michael waited anxiously at home with our 4 year old daughter Reese.
Upon arrival, Shea was rushed into a room and surrounded by doctors. She was so dehydrated that they could not find any veins to put the IV in. At this time, they had to put an IO in her leg bone marrow. She was given fluids and rounds of antibiotics and was being treated for septic shock. The doctors immediately called the Johns Hopkins Pediatric team. Within 30 minutes, the PICU team from JHH was there and getting Shea ready to be flown out.
During transport, Shea had episodes of seizures and a possible stroke which was indicated by the loss of activity on one side of her body.
We met the team at the hospital. The first 3 hours were absolutely horrible as the only thing we could do was anxiously wait in the waiting room. The PICU team's first step was getting a central line into Shea. They needed to be able to get blood draws easily along with meds into her. After spending many hours trying to get this in and failing, they put in an arterial line and proceeded with a CT scan and an EEG. The team wanted to check her brain for bleeds or any type of infiltration. Luckily, both tests did not show any type of negative indicators of harm. Unluckily, her blood levels came back showing extreme acidity. At this time, the PICU team began doing everything they could to turn her blood back to normal levels. They started treating her for meningitis and sepsis however more significantly, her blood was growing bacteria. It was at this point after the CT that we were able to see her and be by her side.
Shortly after, they wanted to check her heart. As they were doing the EKG, her vital signs dropped and she went into cardiac arrest. We were asked to go back out into the waiting area so they could get her vitals under control. During this horrific episode, her heart stopped and the team did 27 minutes of CPR. She had already been on a ventilator but they now had to put her on an ECMO machine. This gives the heart and lungs a break as it functions for them. This is also when they were able to get a central line in her. Because her condition was continuing to decline, we decided to get her baptized immediately.
Still working with taking the acidity out of the blood, they put her immediately on kidney dialysis. The hope was to flush out her acidic blood and get healthy blood in her. The dialysis after a few hours did not seem to be successful. Her veins were like mush therefore the blood could not move fast enough through her body to work properly. Her organs and heart began to fail. It was at this time that we had our very last option. We moved on to our last step called Plasmapheresis. This is a procedure that is like a supercharged dialysis. The process entails taking out Shea’s blood, separating the bad plasma from her blood, replacing it with good plasma and reinserting it back into her body. This procedure lasts for about 2 hours and the hope was for it to tighten back up her veins for the blood to move through.
After the plasmapheresis procedure, around 1:15am, the doctors took Michael and I into a conference room. This was the moment when we knew the ultimate outcome.
We were told that we basically had two choices, we could continue plasmapheresis and see what would happen. Or we could make her comfortable in her last few hours and let her go.
This was an incredibly difficult time and decision. We learned that since her heart stopped beating earlier, there was a chance that her brain was not getting enough oxygen for her brain to function. This was when we knew what we needed to do.
The sweet PICU nurse helped me create hand and footprints as well as a hand mold. We played lullaby music and we talked to Shea (not just then but the whole night).
Our families came to say goodbye and we had our last prayers.
Shea was then cleaned up. Michael picked her up and gave her one last kiss. He helped place Shea in my arms and we said our last goodbye. With our last kisses, they disconnected the ECMO machine and ventilator. After less than a minute, she became an angel.
At 5:09, we had to say goodbye to our sweet Baby Shea. We know that she is watching over us and her big sister Reese. She will be forever in our hearts and memories.
#warriorShea forever in our hearts, forever our baby girl, forever our angel
It started on a Saturday when Shea was not feeling well. She maintained a high fever therefore we took her to our local clinic to get her seen. They claimed it was a viral infection and she just needed to rest. The next day, Monday, she was still not feeling well. We made her an appointment with her pediatrician. At this time, they diagnosed her with an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics.
Tuesday Night, Shea took a turn for the worst. Her fever spiked and she became extremely lethargic. Mandy rushed her to Anne Arundel Medical Center while Michael waited anxiously at home with our 4 year old daughter Reese.
Upon arrival, Shea was rushed into a room and surrounded by doctors. She was so dehydrated that they could not find any veins to put the IV in. At this time, they had to put an IO in her leg bone marrow. She was given fluids and rounds of antibiotics and was being treated for septic shock. The doctors immediately called the Johns Hopkins Pediatric team. Within 30 minutes, the PICU team from JHH was there and getting Shea ready to be flown out.
During transport, Shea had episodes of seizures and a possible stroke which was indicated by the loss of activity on one side of her body.
We met the team at the hospital. The first 3 hours were absolutely horrible as the only thing we could do was anxiously wait in the waiting room. The PICU team's first step was getting a central line into Shea. They needed to be able to get blood draws easily along with meds into her. After spending many hours trying to get this in and failing, they put in an arterial line and proceeded with a CT scan and an EEG. The team wanted to check her brain for bleeds or any type of infiltration. Luckily, both tests did not show any type of negative indicators of harm. Unluckily, her blood levels came back showing extreme acidity. At this time, the PICU team began doing everything they could to turn her blood back to normal levels. They started treating her for meningitis and sepsis however more significantly, her blood was growing bacteria. It was at this point after the CT that we were able to see her and be by her side.
Shortly after, they wanted to check her heart. As they were doing the EKG, her vital signs dropped and she went into cardiac arrest. We were asked to go back out into the waiting area so they could get her vitals under control. During this horrific episode, her heart stopped and the team did 27 minutes of CPR. She had already been on a ventilator but they now had to put her on an ECMO machine. This gives the heart and lungs a break as it functions for them. This is also when they were able to get a central line in her. Because her condition was continuing to decline, we decided to get her baptized immediately.
Still working with taking the acidity out of the blood, they put her immediately on kidney dialysis. The hope was to flush out her acidic blood and get healthy blood in her. The dialysis after a few hours did not seem to be successful. Her veins were like mush therefore the blood could not move fast enough through her body to work properly. Her organs and heart began to fail. It was at this time that we had our very last option. We moved on to our last step called Plasmapheresis. This is a procedure that is like a supercharged dialysis. The process entails taking out Shea’s blood, separating the bad plasma from her blood, replacing it with good plasma and reinserting it back into her body. This procedure lasts for about 2 hours and the hope was for it to tighten back up her veins for the blood to move through.
After the plasmapheresis procedure, around 1:15am, the doctors took Michael and I into a conference room. This was the moment when we knew the ultimate outcome.
We were told that we basically had two choices, we could continue plasmapheresis and see what would happen. Or we could make her comfortable in her last few hours and let her go.
This was an incredibly difficult time and decision. We learned that since her heart stopped beating earlier, there was a chance that her brain was not getting enough oxygen for her brain to function. This was when we knew what we needed to do.
The sweet PICU nurse helped me create hand and footprints as well as a hand mold. We played lullaby music and we talked to Shea (not just then but the whole night).
Our families came to say goodbye and we had our last prayers.
Shea was then cleaned up. Michael picked her up and gave her one last kiss. He helped place Shea in my arms and we said our last goodbye. With our last kisses, they disconnected the ECMO machine and ventilator. After less than a minute, she became an angel.
At 5:09, we had to say goodbye to our sweet Baby Shea. We know that she is watching over us and her big sister Reese. She will be forever in our hearts and memories.
#warriorShea forever in our hearts, forever our baby girl, forever our angel
Organizer and beneficiary
Michael Kearney
Organizer
Pasadena, MD
Michael Kearney Jr.
Beneficiary
