Duncil Family

On behalf of Christopher, Michaila, and Kyden, thank you SO much to everyone who has come around them and supported them up to this point, and an advanced thank you to those that decide to come around them monetarily through this GoFundMe or through prayer! 

A backstory on the situation:

Michaila was in a long and arduous 65 hour-long labor. Despite complications like meconium (baby’s feces) in the amniotic fluid, to a sudden spiked fever that gave mommy an infection that put baby at risk of infection, Kyden Eliah Duncil was born on December 29, 2022 after a quick and powerful 20 minute push session from Mommy. 

Kyden was immediately taken aside to have the meconium he ingested sucked out of his throat and stomach. Instead of the usual peaceful hour of skin-to-skin time alone with them, mommy and daddy instead had to listen from a distance to the fluid-filled coughs coming from Kyden. 

After 5 seconds in Mommy’s arms, Kyden was then rushed to the intensive care nursery where they injected him with antibiotics for the potential infection from the fever, ran blood and other tests, and took a chest x-ray to see what was going on in his lungs (as the doctors noticed he was having a hard time breathing.) After getting the results from the x-ray, it was found that Kyden had a collapsed lung (known as a pneumothorax) which means there were air pockets in between his lungs and chest which shouldn’t be there, as well as a pneumomediastinum, which means that there was also air in-between his lungs in the middle of his chest which also shouldn’t be there. 

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Kapi’olani Children’s Hospital on O’ahu was notified of the situation, but told the doctors on Kaua’i that Kyden would be okay under their care for the night, but they would continue to monitor the situation to see if a med-evac to O’ahu would be necessary. To mommy and daddy’s dismay, another chest x-ray was done the next morning which showed that the pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum had gotten worse over night and an immediate med-evac to O’ahu was necessary for more intensive care. 

The med-evac team wasn’t able to take anyone with them other than Kyden, so daddy had to immediately book a flight to O’ahu in hopes of making it to Kapi’olani before Kyden did. Mommy on the other hand was discharged extremely early (within less than 24 hours of giving birth, forfeiting any extra care needed to heal properly at the hospital, especially with a 2nd degree tear from delivery and infection) just so she could fly to O’ahu to take care of Kyden the next day along with her parents. 

At Kapi’olani, Kyden received excellent care around the clock, and his recovery from the unneeded air pockets in his chest began. Over the course of 4 days, there were small victories but also big challenges. One of which was daddy having to get sent by ambulance to the emergency room at a different hospital due to vertigo induced by exhaustion and stress. After a very emotionally and physically draining 4 days, Kyden was weaned off of the respiratory machine and IV, and was deemed stable enough to fly home to Kaua’i. That evening the family flew back home and settled into the first night together. 

During the second day home, Kyden’s parents noticed the fast and shallow breathing they had seen as soon he was born just a couple of days before. They contacted their pediatrician who had them bring Kyden in to get checked. The pediatrician noticed the irregular breathing pattern and wasn’t too worried about it, but send the family to Wilcox hospital to get another x-ray done on Kyden, just to make sure everything was okay.

They travelled to Wilcox, got the x-ray done, and headed home. As soon as they walked through the door, they were given a call by the pediatrician with the devastating news that they would have to med-evac Kyden once again to the Kapi’olani Hospital on O’ahu. The family was told to rush to the emergency room at Wilcox immediately to meet the Kapi’olani NICU transfer team for the med-evac. This time, daddy was able to fly on the med-evac plane and once again, Kyden and him were headed to O’ahu to relive the nightmare they just stepped out of. 

After just one and a half days at home on Kaua’i, Kyden was back in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, in the same incubation bed, hooked up to the same respiratory machines, and back on IV. That same night, Michaila was admitted to the same emergency room at Wilcox due to difficulty breathing and an uncertainty of whether or not she was healing properly. After staying in the ER until past 1am, and after multiple tests, a CT scan of her lungs and an x-ray, Michaila was discharged in order to travel once again to O’ahu the next day. Up to this point, with a “normal” delivery, Michaila should have been in bed resting each day, and making progress towards healing, but with the on-the-go circumstances and flying when she shouldn’t be, her healing was not matching up to where she should’ve been, which was daunting because of her infection that she had during labor. 

Currently today (January 7th) the family is still at Kapi’olani hospital awaiting to be discharged hopefully tomorrow to bring Kyden back home. 

As you can probably imagine, this has been a long, emotionally and physically draining journey for the young family. Along with the emotional and physical traumas experienced by Kyden, Michaila and Christopher, come the hospital and travel expenses incurred by all of the specialized intensive care needed, as well as the multiple emergency room visits incurred by the parents from complete exhaustion and stress. 

If God has put it on your heart to bless this family monetarily or through prayer, they are extremely appreciative of your generosity and you showing them God’s faithfulness through your gift. 

Thank you all for your support!