Ava Grace’s Journey

Ava Grace’s Journey

Meet Ava Grace Coder. She is a beautiful 21-month-old baby. Before December 9th, Ava seemed to be a healthy baby. Ava has been sick on and off since December 9th. Her doctor said it was just a virus and would need to run its course. On December 10th, Ava woke up with both eyes swollen shut. The doctor said it looked like conjunctivitis and called in antibiotic eye drops. Ava has not been acting herself, and her parents were becoming worried. On December 17th, Ava acted as if she felt better, so her parents finally took her to the mall to visit Santa. When they returned home, Ava began to throw up. She could not hold anything down and woke up on and off all night crying, with no wet diaper in 16 hours and no stool in 2 days. So on the morning of December 18th, her parents took her to the Dayton Children’s Hospital. Once there, her labs showed that she had too much potassium, her hemoglobin was low, and her kidney function was only at 10%. They believed she might have a possible stomach virus and maybe some dehydration. However, with further testing and how her symptoms were presented, they diagnosed her with Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS). She was then placed in the PICU. Ava had surgery on December 19th to place a catheter so she could begin dialysis. She will be sedated for 3 days while dialysis is running. She was given an IV antibiotic, and a meningitis vaccine, and they began an IV infusion (Soliris) that helps with aHUS. On December 20th, after receiving several hours of dialysis, they removed 500cc of fluid. Still, no urine output, but her labs are improving. The doctors are hoping that after the dialysis her kidneys will be functionally normal. More genetic testing will be done when she gets through this treatment and when she is not considered critical. This is just the beginning of Ava’s journey. This syndrome will be lifelong for her. Ava and her family will need all your prayers and support during this journey. The family will face many medical bills and hospital stays. Please consider donating to her medical journey. Any amount will help! Thank you for your prayers and support