Help Scarlett on her Road to Recovery

The Reichart's Jack, Emily, Ricky, Adelyn, and Scarlett.

Ricky, Adelyn, and Scarlett with their little cousin Reagan.

Hello! My name is Lori Reichart and I am creating this for my Brother-in-Law Jack, his wife Emily, and their three kids Ricky, Adelyn, and Scarlett. Scarlett is a 3 year old little girl who is very sick at Geisinger in the PICU.

Scarlett’s Story:

Scarlett started with a fever, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea and cold symptoms on Sunday 3/19 after church. Monday 3/20 she started with a cough, sounding like it was primarily in her throat. She ate somewhat Monday but because of her throat being so sore, that was the last time she ate since. Tuesday 3/21 her fever continued creeping up to 103 and never dropping below 102. Her cough sounded worse so tylenol and mortin were rotated for the fever. Tuesday night into Wednesday 3/22 fever was up to 104 and she was just visibly not feeling well. Mom took her into the ER early Wednesday morning. They gave her Zofran for nausea, a steroid to help with her throat airway and did a nasal swab for a virus. MyChart. Scarlett’s hiney was sore because everytime she coughed she would have diarrhea. Thursday 3/23 night into Friday 3/24 she really just wasn't feeling well, cough sounded terrible and painful and she was starting to breathe a little tougher, complaining of back and neck pain, continued 104+ fevers. Mom took her to the ER again. She asked for IV fluids because she was drinking less and less that night into morning and her last pee was very little and darker and asked for a blood test because the of the high temps, back and neck pain, and rash. Mom was told it's better for her to get fluids through her gut and no bloodwork. She was visibly having a rough time breathing in the ER bed. She started howling in pain for 45 minutes from her back. A chest XRAY and strep test came back "clear" and rapid strep was negative. The doctor came in and said I feel comfortable enough to send you home. Let it run its course; it will peak on days 3-5 (we were on day 6, tried to explain that). Mom expressed she was afraid she may have an infection which would explain the high fevers and back and neck pain. She was sent home with O2 at 92, temp at 103 and every visible symptom. Once at home, she started struggling to breath. She was in so much distress that mom called 911. The ambulance got there and they could see she was in respiratory distress, high temp, bad back pain. Oxygen was started and she was raced back to the hospital. A few short hours after she was discharged from the ER she arrived back at the hospital O2 was 82, temp 104, low BP high HR. They continued the oxygen, gave her an inhibitor because not only could she not get air out but she couldn't get air in. She was given a dual albuterhol with the oxygen. They began bloodwork and started IV fluids.The bloodwork came back and she was in septic shock and a strep infection. They looked at the xray from the morning and realized pneumonia in her right lung was missed and has grown larger. She now has pneumonia, parainfluenza, strep and sepsis. She was admitted into the PICU. Scarlett's O2 was still at 85 on oxygen and struggling to breathe on her own. Less than 9 hours later fluid had taken up her entire right lung and was putting pressure and pushing into her heart, into the left lung, and all organs surrounding. They immediately said they needed to place a chest tube to drain the fluid. Within 15 minutes they had already filled the canister and were onto the next one taking 200 mL from her lung. The doctors said if we wouldn’t have called 911 when we did, she was going to die. Scarlett had her 2nd dose of TPA into her chest tube and is still draining. The cultures from the fluid taken out of her lungs are still coming up as infected. Infectious disease gave two specifics antibiotics but if the infection doesn’t clear, she may have to have the infection cut out of her lung. As of 3/28, Scarlett is still in the PICU retaining fluid in her abdomen and lung. She had a feeding tube placed and is still extremely tired and struggling with her O2 levels. She is supposed to have surgery 3/29 to remove the infectious material from her lungs.

Doctors say life will not be the same with her for a while and we don't know what her quality of life will be in the future with her lung. She will be in the hospital for several weeks and down the road when she is better and home she will need PT, weekly treatments, most likely daily medication. She will not be allowed to be in or around people/situations that may cause her any risk of any sort of cold or sickness because she is very susceptible to becomes sick again just as bad.

Scarlett’s mom has to quit her job driving the school van to be home to care for her medically. The family relied on her income to support the family of five. Please consider donating to help with the medical bills and help the family get through this extremely difficult time.