Dakota's Journey: Aid in His Fight for Health

As some of you may know, Dakota is 19 years old and was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome back in 2018 when he was just 12 years old. He was hospitalized at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Pediatric ICU for a week and then transferred to their pediatric unit for an additional week. This past January, he was hospitalized again at Corewell Health Spectrum Butterworth and transferred to Corewell Health Spectrum Blodgett where he was diagnosed with Budd-Chiari Syndrome (blood clots on his liver) as well as Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome - triple positive. Throughout the years since his first diagnosis, he has had blood draws and scans, procedures, and numerous doctor's visits, including weekly INR checks.

He was brought into the emergency room again this past Friday, October 11th, after a long night of vomiting and dizziness, difficulty breathing, and numbness, where he was immediately run back for tests. He was diagnosed with a moderately large ischemic stroke in his cerebellum due to a blood clot. They rushed him back for emergency surgery to remove the clot, and he is now intubated and highly sedated to keep him comfortable in the Neurological ICU at Butterworth. Since the initial diagnosis and surgery, they’ve discovered he had a small stroke in his thalamus as well. There is a small part of his brain that has died off, but the doctors are hoping for the best and have said they believe whatever side effects he may have from this will fade with time. The doctors are unsure at this time of the severity of the damage overall, but they have said it is a possibility he may have some numbness in his left side and difficulties with coordination and balance in his right side. He has a long road of recovery ahead of him, once again. We are unsure at this time how long he will be in the hospital, but his mother, Melissa, will be off work to stay with him. The family thanks you for all kind words, thoughts, and prayers through this difficult time.

Thank you!