My name is Jesse Garrett. On February 6th my brother, James Garrett, experienced a medical emergency from a quick change in his sodium levels in his blood. His sodium was life threateningly low (95), and had to be corrected slowly. The shift from low towards normal ranges took place over several days, but may have happened too quickly. The shift resulted in brain damage in his brain stem. The doctors believe the damage occurred from the extremely low sodium James experienced (normal is 135-145) verses the correction itself. We do not know what the outcome will be but we are fighting every single day to help get him back on hist feet and recovered fully!
The disease process James has is called Osmotic Demyelination Syndrome. What happens with this syndrome is that myelin sheath protecting the nerves in this brain stem rupture, leaving the nerves exposed to their environment, which makes them unable to send signals properly. Currently, James cannot walk, move his legs, arms, or talk. He entering week 4 of this disease process that typically takes 6-8 week to see what is going to be permanent and/or needs help correcting with rehab.
Due to the dysfunction of neurological signals being sent throughout the body, James has also had to have a tracheostomy placed to protect his lungs from aspiration. He cannot eat or drink safely, so he also had a feeding tube placed in his stomach.
We are PRAYING all these things are temporary!!!!
After James had the breathing tube removed from his mouth and his trach placed, he has been able to slowly start mouthing words!!! Which has been a HUGE improvement!!! Prior to his breathing tube placement, James could not even open his mouth at all, let alone make the motions of words.
And Saturday (3-15-2026) he lifted his left arm off his hospital bed!!!
As James’ family we have quickly jumped in and have managing James’ affairs to the best of our abilities. When James does get to come home, we would like the focus of his care to be one of healing and support, and not stress over past due bills. All of his energy needs to be spent on learning how to walk, talk, use his hands, and eat again. We need help to make that happen for him.
Our hope is that he will go to CarePartners for rigorous inpatient rehab to have the best possible chance of healing.
Thank you for caring about our brother and family!