Assist Deron and Becky McClelland following Ezra's passing

Hello. Most of you know me and understand I would do almost anything for everyone. So I'm starting this funding to help cover Deron and Becky family's essential expenses like Time off, utilities, groceries, and medical bills which will help them through a difficult period. Also there is a meal train started if you would like to help there.

https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/gm737m

From Deron and Becky (7/24/24): Oh our sweet, sweet boy. Ezra has shown us over the past week that his brain is just done. Last Saturday, while we were at Epilepsy Family Camp, Ezra had a cluster of seizures. While this was new for him, we didn't think too much of it, treated it appropriately, and continued on with our day. He continued to have increased seizures throughout the day but we still assumed his brain was chilling out and coming back down to his baseline, or the typical number of seizures for him.

Throughout Sunday and Monday Ezra continued to have more than typical seizures, however we were still not alarmed. We already had a hospice appointment on Tuesday and figured we'd come up with a plan to help him then. Tuesday brought on more seizures. I honestly cannot tell you how many but there were multiple every hour. During our meeting with hospice we decided to try a rescue med for 10 days to see if that would "reset" Ezra's brain and help him get back to where he was before camp. We gave a dose Tuesday night and Wednesday morning but unfortunately had no good outcome. On the contrary, Ezra's seizures continued to increase. I absolutely lost count, but he had 20-30 seizures in a 2 hour window.

At that time we contacted hospice again to begin plan B. We made the gut wrenching decision to withdraw care. What that means is we stopped giving Ezra his tube feedings. This goes against everything a mama wants to - or even feels compelled to - do for her child. In many ways though Ezra's formula feeds were a type of "medicine". I'm so thankful that a friend from church once phrased it so well that sometimes medicine just prolongs death instead of giving life. Ezra no longer had a good quality of life and continuing down that path was not best for him.

We have also begun a comfort care level of medication. We are still using the rescue med that we originally tried but at 4 times the dose he started at - and we can still go up on that if needed. We've also added another med that can be used as often as every hour if he still has breakthrough seizures, which he is having several times a day at this point. We will continue to do whatever we can to keep him comfortable in his last days

Wednesday, July 24 was the 12 year anniversary of when we took Ezra to the hospital and he was diagnosed with meningitis. God has given us 12 beautiful years with our boy. I don't doubt for a second that God has used, and will continue to use, his life and his story. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am a different person - a better person - for walking this journey with him. And I know he has impacted many of you as well.

Please pray for our family. First of all, that Ezra would pass away quickly and comfortably, and that we would know best how to help him. Secondly for Deron and I as we lose a child. Thirdly for our other kids. They are all doing as well as can be expected, but this is just hard all the way around

From Deron and Becky (8/4/24) - Sweet Ezra went from the arms of his mama to the arms of Jesus yesterday afternoon. ❤️