My little man can't catch a break
Donation protected
I can only wish to have a fraction of the strength my little boy George has. He's been through hell since the day he was born, and he always manages to have a big smile on his face despite his pain and limitations.
My wife developed a high fever during labor, and George's heart rate was dangerously high. When he was born he was grey and limp. They took him to a table where they administered "life breathes" to bring him back. After what seemed like an eternity he finally started breathing.
He wasn't receptive to any stimulation. We would talk to him and kiss him but he would just blankly stare. As the months went by, he became a very happy baby. He would smile and wiggle his hands, but he wouldn't look at you when you talked to him or made noise, because it turns out he was deaf.
After countless doctor visits, tests, antibiotics, two failed ear surgeries, and many sleepless nights of screaming from the puss and blood excreting from his ears, the third set of ear tubes finally allowed him to hear. He was almost a year old now. We were aggressive about restoring his hearing because we feared he would developmentally fall behind. We weren't prepared for how delayed he would be.
The doctors would tell us that George is "Globally Delayed". He couldn't hold himself up including his head, crawl or eat. He lacks natural defensive relfexes to catch himself as he falls, often hitting his head, as a result of the hypotonia. Just as we did with his ears, we immediately sought help. He now has three therapist's including one for occupational, one for speech, and another for eating. Over the past few months he's come a long way but still has difficulty in every subject.
It kills me to see his face when he watches other kids running and playing. He laughs and wiggles his arms. He wants to play so badly but his little body won't let him. His big sister and the kids at daycare love him so much and always make him feel included. Even as a toddler his sister Charlotte always looked after her little brother. She takes such good care of him. She's his angel.
On the fourteenth of January, my wife was holding George in her hands after a normal morning of playing with his big sister. While she was holding him, George threw his head back and his eyes rolled into his head. It took my wife a minute to realize what was happening because it came out of nowhere. His lips turned blue as he stopped breathing. She called 911 and they instructed her on resuscitation. The ambulance arrived, and he seemed ok again, until he started seizuring. They rushed him to the PICU where he would stop breathing and continued to have seizures, one of which that lasted ten minutes. They gave him paralytics so they could administer a breathing tube, IV's, and run tests. Everyone thought initially the cause of his seizuring was something in his brain. Possibly lingering since birth and contributing to his developmental issues. What we eventually discovered was he actually has two viruses, and the tubes they put in him for breathing had spread the virus to his lungs, causing pneumonia.
And now here we sit. The nurse's banging on his chest and sucking out the mucus through tubes. Every now and again he starts to writhe, and the nurse's come in with more paralytics. He's been asleep for days now. I read Harry Potter to him in between the nurses frequent visits. It breaks my heart. He just wants to be a normal little boy and play. Just like any other parent on this planet if I could take away his pain I would. But I can't. I feel helpless.
George has a long road ahead of him, and his medical bills are becoming more than we can handle. Any and all proceeds we receive will be going towards medical debt, treatments, medications, and his care.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our boy. My family and I are eternally grateful for everyone's kindness. We'll continue to love him to death, and he'll always be smiling.
My wife developed a high fever during labor, and George's heart rate was dangerously high. When he was born he was grey and limp. They took him to a table where they administered "life breathes" to bring him back. After what seemed like an eternity he finally started breathing.
He wasn't receptive to any stimulation. We would talk to him and kiss him but he would just blankly stare. As the months went by, he became a very happy baby. He would smile and wiggle his hands, but he wouldn't look at you when you talked to him or made noise, because it turns out he was deaf.
After countless doctor visits, tests, antibiotics, two failed ear surgeries, and many sleepless nights of screaming from the puss and blood excreting from his ears, the third set of ear tubes finally allowed him to hear. He was almost a year old now. We were aggressive about restoring his hearing because we feared he would developmentally fall behind. We weren't prepared for how delayed he would be.
The doctors would tell us that George is "Globally Delayed". He couldn't hold himself up including his head, crawl or eat. He lacks natural defensive relfexes to catch himself as he falls, often hitting his head, as a result of the hypotonia. Just as we did with his ears, we immediately sought help. He now has three therapist's including one for occupational, one for speech, and another for eating. Over the past few months he's come a long way but still has difficulty in every subject.
It kills me to see his face when he watches other kids running and playing. He laughs and wiggles his arms. He wants to play so badly but his little body won't let him. His big sister and the kids at daycare love him so much and always make him feel included. Even as a toddler his sister Charlotte always looked after her little brother. She takes such good care of him. She's his angel.
On the fourteenth of January, my wife was holding George in her hands after a normal morning of playing with his big sister. While she was holding him, George threw his head back and his eyes rolled into his head. It took my wife a minute to realize what was happening because it came out of nowhere. His lips turned blue as he stopped breathing. She called 911 and they instructed her on resuscitation. The ambulance arrived, and he seemed ok again, until he started seizuring. They rushed him to the PICU where he would stop breathing and continued to have seizures, one of which that lasted ten minutes. They gave him paralytics so they could administer a breathing tube, IV's, and run tests. Everyone thought initially the cause of his seizuring was something in his brain. Possibly lingering since birth and contributing to his developmental issues. What we eventually discovered was he actually has two viruses, and the tubes they put in him for breathing had spread the virus to his lungs, causing pneumonia.
And now here we sit. The nurse's banging on his chest and sucking out the mucus through tubes. Every now and again he starts to writhe, and the nurse's come in with more paralytics. He's been asleep for days now. I read Harry Potter to him in between the nurses frequent visits. It breaks my heart. He just wants to be a normal little boy and play. Just like any other parent on this planet if I could take away his pain I would. But I can't. I feel helpless.
George has a long road ahead of him, and his medical bills are becoming more than we can handle. Any and all proceeds we receive will be going towards medical debt, treatments, medications, and his care.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our boy. My family and I are eternally grateful for everyone's kindness. We'll continue to love him to death, and he'll always be smiling.
Organizer
Chris Cook
Organizer
Tucson, AZ
