Please Help Our Two Little Girls
July has been a very rough month for my family and I. My birthday was on July 8th and my coworkers surprised me with cupcakes, which would turn out to be the last time I would have anything to celebrate about for a while. After working an 11 hour shift I returned home after picking up my children from daycare. I arrived home a little past eight waiting for my wife to arrive so we can celebrate my birthday. Within 15 minutes of my wife arriving home my oldest daughter Scarlett, at 17 months old, began to have a seizure that lasted over 5 minutes. My birthday plans were scratched and we rushed to the hospital. The staff drew blood and urine and performed several tests such as a chest xray, MRI, and extracted spinal fluid through a Lumbar Puncture. It was determined that she would need to be transferred to another hospital and stay overnight. The following day the neurologist came in to speak to my wife and I to inform us that Scarlett's MRI results show abnormalities. It appears that there is scarring in the brain tissue as well as benign tumors. The doctors ran several more tests on Scarlett's kidneys, liver, lungs, eyes and heart. The doctors suspect that Scarlett may have a rare disease called Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a rare, life-threatening condition which causes tumours to grow on her vital organs. After spending several nights in the hospital, the doctors discharged Scarlett late on July 12 while we await the results of additional blood testing. We must follow up with a neurologist and cardiologist since there were abnormalities discovered in Scarlett's heart and brain.
My wife and I decided to stay home to care for our children for a couple days and to also try to digest what we just learned. After going through several medical tests, Scarlett had been a bit traumatized and clingy. On July 15, While playing with Scarlett in an effort to cheer her up, my wife accidentally jabbed her thumbnail in my left eye. I rested my eye for an additional day before returning to work on July 17. As the day progressed, the pain in my eye became overwhelmingly painful and I no longer had vision out of my left eye. I had to leave work early to go back to the hospital, but this time for myself . After waiting for hours I finally saw a doctor. I cut my sclera on my left eye and peeled a layer back like a contact lens floating in my eye. It got infected and I got conjunctivitis and a staph infection in my eye. I also had a partial scratch on the cornea which is why I had impaired vision. I was discharged around 10 pm that night and left to pick up my children from the babysitter. It was then that we learned that our 3 month old Violet had been burning up with a fever. When we read her temperature to be at 103 degrees we rushed right back to the emergency room but this time with Violet. She was diagnosed with a Urinary Tract Infection with pylonephritis. Luckily the doctors treated her at the hospital to lower her fever and prescribed medication to treat her for a few days.
On my commute to work in the morning of July 21, I received a call from the hospital. They informed me that the test results for Violet had come in and showed the infection to be more severe than they expected. They let us know that the medication she was prescribed will not affect her and that she needs to return to the hospital to be treated. When my family arrived and was seen by the doctor, we were informed that Violet would need to be admitted to the hospital and be treated with IV medication for a few days. The doctors did additional testing on Violet to inspect her kidneys as there are signs of damage that can lead to Acute Kidney Failure. Violet was discharged on July 25 with a new medication and must follow up with the doctors to make sure her kidney damage does not escalate and the medication is affecting her. 
Since the week of July 7, my wife and I have taken several days off of work due to continuous unforeseen medical emergencies, with the majority of them being unpaid time off. On our first visit to the hospital with Scarlett we were made aware that the insurance coverage we had for both our baby girls were no longer active due to changes in the Affordable Care Act as of July 1st of this year. We are expecting the medical bills for the family to be astronomical and will be hard-pressed to get by for this month alone. Any donations will be greatly appreciated and will be of great help for Scarlett and Violet.
