Ethan's Facial Reconstruction
Donation protected
Ethan had a horrible accident. While he was sleeping he was accidentally shot in the face with his own shotgun. He ended up losing 3 to 4cm of his upper and lower jaw, his bottom lip and his chin.
During the initial trauma surgery to stabilize him, the doctors gave him a tracheotomy and a feeding tube because he did not have a clear airway, and his jaw had to be wired shut for 8 weeks. Both of these must remain until reconstruction has been completed, in case there are any complications, so he can breathe through an open airway and can be fed a liquid diet. Fortunately, he has been able to eat on his own for a few weeks now, but that could change as he heals from these future surgeries. He has had four surgeries so far. We found a wonderful expert cranio-facial reconstructive surgeon who will be able to make eating, swallowing and breathing as normal as possible with only three more surgeries! The first of the three surgeries is scheduled to be performed on July 26. This first surgery is to start the reconstruction process by replacing the tissue in his mouth, so that it can receive the bone transplant during the second surgery.
By the end of the year, if we can come up with our end of the funding, Ethan will have a fully functioning mouth and face again.
The last 3 months we had a surgeon that put Ethan through unnecessary and traumatic surgeries. We were scheduled for another one of these the day before we found the new surgeon. This doctor wanted to cut out an infection that he thought he saw on a scan of his head, but was not there. The extra trauma and distress would put anyone into a horrible mood and cause serious depression.
Luckily, we were able to contact this amazing surgeon, and Ethan did not have to undergo the surgery. We ended up finding out that there was no infection to be removed after the new doctor performed a physical examination of the area and ordered a blood test to check his white blood cell count.
He has a nurse with him all week every week, checking his vitals and making sure he has no airway obstruction. He has to carry an emergency bag with him any time he leaves the house, in case his airway becomes obstructed. Because of this he has lost friends and is restricted on what he can do and where he can go. Living like this everyday so you can't be a normal teenager would make anyone feel like they were crawling out of their skin. Ethan just keeps pushing through everyday.
He pushed through and with a trach and feeding tube he was able to finish and graduate 8th grade. We want him to be able to start freshman year with his friends so he doesn't fall behind academically or socially. People have always been drawn to Ethan. He's always had a group of people with him at school or home.
I hate that money is going to keep this kid from getting back to the awesome outgoing person he was.
I am a stay at home mom. My husband has always worked for everything we have. Working as much as we can, saving and going without is not giving us the funds we need to come up with. We are thankful that we were able to schedule this surgery as soon as we did but we need your help. The only way we can do this is through great people willing to help a great kid.
During the initial trauma surgery to stabilize him, the doctors gave him a tracheotomy and a feeding tube because he did not have a clear airway, and his jaw had to be wired shut for 8 weeks. Both of these must remain until reconstruction has been completed, in case there are any complications, so he can breathe through an open airway and can be fed a liquid diet. Fortunately, he has been able to eat on his own for a few weeks now, but that could change as he heals from these future surgeries. He has had four surgeries so far. We found a wonderful expert cranio-facial reconstructive surgeon who will be able to make eating, swallowing and breathing as normal as possible with only three more surgeries! The first of the three surgeries is scheduled to be performed on July 26. This first surgery is to start the reconstruction process by replacing the tissue in his mouth, so that it can receive the bone transplant during the second surgery.
By the end of the year, if we can come up with our end of the funding, Ethan will have a fully functioning mouth and face again.
The last 3 months we had a surgeon that put Ethan through unnecessary and traumatic surgeries. We were scheduled for another one of these the day before we found the new surgeon. This doctor wanted to cut out an infection that he thought he saw on a scan of his head, but was not there. The extra trauma and distress would put anyone into a horrible mood and cause serious depression.
Luckily, we were able to contact this amazing surgeon, and Ethan did not have to undergo the surgery. We ended up finding out that there was no infection to be removed after the new doctor performed a physical examination of the area and ordered a blood test to check his white blood cell count.
He has a nurse with him all week every week, checking his vitals and making sure he has no airway obstruction. He has to carry an emergency bag with him any time he leaves the house, in case his airway becomes obstructed. Because of this he has lost friends and is restricted on what he can do and where he can go. Living like this everyday so you can't be a normal teenager would make anyone feel like they were crawling out of their skin. Ethan just keeps pushing through everyday.
He pushed through and with a trach and feeding tube he was able to finish and graduate 8th grade. We want him to be able to start freshman year with his friends so he doesn't fall behind academically or socially. People have always been drawn to Ethan. He's always had a group of people with him at school or home.
I hate that money is going to keep this kid from getting back to the awesome outgoing person he was.
I am a stay at home mom. My husband has always worked for everything we have. Working as much as we can, saving and going without is not giving us the funds we need to come up with. We are thankful that we were able to schedule this surgery as soon as we did but we need your help. The only way we can do this is through great people willing to help a great kid.
Organizer
Cynthia Dunn
Organizer
Antioch, IL