Help Chris Walk, One Step at a Time
Donation protected
First, we would like to thank you for taking the time to learn and understand the story of our beloved father and husband, Christopher Wall.
Unfortunately, Chris and his family (wife & two children) were recently blindsided with the sudden diagnosis of severe sepsis, spinal abcess and paralysis in both of his legs. The unforseen staggering cost of treatment is to not only save his life but also to hopefully help him regain the abiliy to walk again.
This has been an extremely difficult 12 month ordeal that began early in January of 2017. At that time, Chris was admitted to the intensive care unit at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown with difficulty breathing and was immediately diagnosed with double pneumonia of both lungs. During his treatment, which consisted of receiving antibiotics via an IV, he suffered an allergic reaction that ultimately developed into the Steven Johnson Syndrome. As a result, third degree burns consumed his entire body and required additional months of healing and recovery. Now, ten months later after fully recovering from SJS, except for both the internal and external scarring, the unimaginable happened.
As of November 30, 2017, Chris was suddenly no longer able to walk or stand on his own two feet and was admitted into St. Barnabas emergency care. Only this time, the difference was that he was much more concerned and afraid fighting a high fever of 104.3 degrees while being paralyzed from the waist down. After endless testing, he was subsqently diagnosed with severe sepsis which is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammatory responses throughout the entire body. This inflammation can trigger a cascade of changes that can damage multiple organ systems, thus causing them to fail. However, at the time it wasn't the explanation of the paralysis of both his legs.
After a second round of endless testing, his doctors discovered a massive internal abscess in his back that was pressing on his spinal cord causing neuropathy which finally explained the loss of feeling and movements in his legs. Emergency surgery was scheduled right away to prevent permanent paralaysis. The high risk surgery caused him to need a blood transfusion and lasted for 8 nerve racking hours. During which his already feeble lungs filled with fluid, raising more concerns and confirmed that recovery is going to be a very long road.
After numerous medications and continuous testing to monitor his progression, he was finally allowed to be prepped to go to a Kessler Rehabilitation Center. A PICC line was needed to be put into his arm (a PICC line is an IV site that stays in longer, about a month rather than 3 or 4 days like at a hospital). To make matters worse, he had an allergic reaction to the lidocaine that was used and went into anaphylactic shock which only delayed his road to recovery. After a week, he was stable enough to finally be discharged to the Kessler Rehabilitation Center.
Now at Kessler, Chris is tired and worn down, but still fighting to get stronger despite the fact that he lost more than 27lbs and unfortunately it seems like his condition has started to get a little worse. After more blood tests, it was found that the initial antibiotic was causing more damage to the blood and he needed to put on another antibiotic immediateley.
With that being said, he has a long road ahead of him and doctors say he WILL be able to walk again with extended amounts of therapy and hard work.
Please help our beloved Chris get the therapy he needs to walk again so he can get back to leading a somewhat normal life!
Thank you in advance for any donations, which will go directly towards his accumulating medical costs.
Unfortunately, Chris and his family (wife & two children) were recently blindsided with the sudden diagnosis of severe sepsis, spinal abcess and paralysis in both of his legs. The unforseen staggering cost of treatment is to not only save his life but also to hopefully help him regain the abiliy to walk again.
This has been an extremely difficult 12 month ordeal that began early in January of 2017. At that time, Chris was admitted to the intensive care unit at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown with difficulty breathing and was immediately diagnosed with double pneumonia of both lungs. During his treatment, which consisted of receiving antibiotics via an IV, he suffered an allergic reaction that ultimately developed into the Steven Johnson Syndrome. As a result, third degree burns consumed his entire body and required additional months of healing and recovery. Now, ten months later after fully recovering from SJS, except for both the internal and external scarring, the unimaginable happened.
As of November 30, 2017, Chris was suddenly no longer able to walk or stand on his own two feet and was admitted into St. Barnabas emergency care. Only this time, the difference was that he was much more concerned and afraid fighting a high fever of 104.3 degrees while being paralyzed from the waist down. After endless testing, he was subsqently diagnosed with severe sepsis which is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammatory responses throughout the entire body. This inflammation can trigger a cascade of changes that can damage multiple organ systems, thus causing them to fail. However, at the time it wasn't the explanation of the paralysis of both his legs.
After a second round of endless testing, his doctors discovered a massive internal abscess in his back that was pressing on his spinal cord causing neuropathy which finally explained the loss of feeling and movements in his legs. Emergency surgery was scheduled right away to prevent permanent paralaysis. The high risk surgery caused him to need a blood transfusion and lasted for 8 nerve racking hours. During which his already feeble lungs filled with fluid, raising more concerns and confirmed that recovery is going to be a very long road.
After numerous medications and continuous testing to monitor his progression, he was finally allowed to be prepped to go to a Kessler Rehabilitation Center. A PICC line was needed to be put into his arm (a PICC line is an IV site that stays in longer, about a month rather than 3 or 4 days like at a hospital). To make matters worse, he had an allergic reaction to the lidocaine that was used and went into anaphylactic shock which only delayed his road to recovery. After a week, he was stable enough to finally be discharged to the Kessler Rehabilitation Center.
Now at Kessler, Chris is tired and worn down, but still fighting to get stronger despite the fact that he lost more than 27lbs and unfortunately it seems like his condition has started to get a little worse. After more blood tests, it was found that the initial antibiotic was causing more damage to the blood and he needed to put on another antibiotic immediateley.
With that being said, he has a long road ahead of him and doctors say he WILL be able to walk again with extended amounts of therapy and hard work.
Please help our beloved Chris get the therapy he needs to walk again so he can get back to leading a somewhat normal life!
Thank you in advance for any donations, which will go directly towards his accumulating medical costs.
Organizer
Sheri Poff
Organizer
Wharton, NJ
