Most of you may know Hunter Nguyen as someone who is loving, caring, and an all-around great person. While he is all that and more, I know him more as my best friend. He loves playing video games and hanging with his friends in Indiana after recently moving to Florida. He would do just about anything for his friends and especially his family. He loves and cares for everyone more than he would himself and does all he can to make everyone feel loved and welcomed. Unfortunately, Hunter was admitted to the hospital recently after a bad bout of seizures caused by his Type 1 Diabetes.

In June of this year, Hunter was hospitalized because his sugar was in the 800’s. As a result, he was diagnosed with type one diabetes and placed on insulin. After, he had difficulty keeping his sugar under control and getting care established under a doctor while he waited for his insurance to take effect. Consequently, he had an episode in September where his sugar dropped and it caused him to have a seizure. The same thing happened again when he visited Indiana in November. Both times the seizures were caught quickly and he was okay.

On Saturday, December 3rd, Hunter was due to work at 3 pm. Usually Hunter’s mom Sabrena, or his stepdad, Wray, will give him a ride to work or he would take an Uber. Hunter would typically let Sabrena or Wray know if he needed a ride, but since no one had received a text, they assumed he was at work.

Shortly after Sabrena and Wray arrived home from work that day, Sabrena asked Wray to grab something from the guest bedroom when he heard noises coming from Hunter's room. He realized Hunter was having a seizure when he went to investigate. Hunter had agitated himself enough to wrap a curtain around his arm, indicating that he had been seizing for a while. Sabrena promptly dialed 911. Hunter’s sugar was 67, which isn’t terribly low, but the paramedics brought it up to 149. Unfortunately, he didn’t stop seizing. They gave him a dose of Versed to stop the seizure and took him to the hospital. He continued to seize despite how much medicine he was given and was placed on a ventilator due to the amount of sedation that was needed to stop the seizing. He wasn’t having any more seizures but continued to twitch and jerk despite the high amount of sedation. CT scans showed no causes for the seizures. While waiting on an MRI, Hunter was placed in the ICU. The prognosis at the time was concerning as there was a possibility of brain damage from seizing as long as he did and for being hypoglycemic.

On Saturday, the 4th, Hunter was taken off sedation to see if he would wake up and respond to see if the twitching/seizing would return. At that time, the EEG showed no current seizure activity, but the MRI indicated that he had a bilateral stroke. The doctors were sure he would be ‘normal’ from the neck down, but they worried there would be neurological impairments. When doing tests on his fingers, he would pull both arms back, which indicated a sign of brain damage. However, due to his age and the amount of sedation he was on at the time, they didn’t want to call anything too early.

On Monday, the 6th, Hunter was awake, alert, and exhausted. He was able to open his eyes, just slightly, and he was very confused as to where he was. His mom, handed him his phone and he remembered his PIN, which was a good sign, but he had no interest in it. He got to speak with his siblings, Heather and Jon, and got a surprise visit from Justin, with Heather following a couple of days later.

Hunter was able to go home on Friday the 9th.

As a result of everything, Hunter is now on antiseizure medication, will be getting more education on diabetes, and a better treatment plan will follow. Hunter is obviously very weak and fatigued, he has slight memory issues, and a bit of slurred speech. He needs help with simple tasks, including help to do things that we take for granted like going to the bathroom by himself. Right now, he’s using a walker to get around. As of right now, his mom has let me know that his diabetes is under control and he will be going to physical therapy to relearn and strengthen his movements to regain independence.

Currently, the biggest worries for Hunter and his family are financial and the time they need in order to miss work. Sabrena has informed me that while some things are covered by his insurance, not everything is. Items Hunter will need for his diabetes include -but are not limited to- needles, insulin, glucometer, insulin pens, etc. The cost of those items adds up and Hunter cannot be at work while he is healing.

The money donated will be used to help afford those items, along with any other necessities like food, hospital bills, rides to the doctors if Sabrena and Wray are not available, and of course any items needed for managing his diabetes. Justin bought Hunter an apple watch that will alert emergency contacts automatically when seizure-like motion or elevated/low heart rate is detected. Just having this extra money will give Hunter and his family the peace of mind they need so that they can focus on their well-being of Hunter and not rush his recovery.

Any amount is appreciated and no donations are mandatory, but anything helps. Including sharing the link for donations. Thank you in advance.