Elliott, Our Warrior Fights Bacterial Meningitis

On October 19 2020, 11-week-old Elliott was taken to the ER in Butler because he had a fever. After tests for Covid-19, Flu, and RSV all came back negative, he was ultimately sent home with a diagnosis of "a virus that needed to run its course". For the next two weeks, his parents, Amy and Neal, made several calls to their pediatrician because he just wasn't getting better. Finally, on November 4, the pediatrician had him come in for an office visit. There, she found that Elliott's head had grown and his fontanelle were bulging. An ambulance was called immediately to rush Elliott to UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh for suspected meningitis.

Scans and blood tests ultimately revealed bacterial meningitis that had turned into a subdural empyema (an abscess of infection) on the left side of his brain. On November 5, Elliott had surgery to drain out as much of the infection as possible and was put on strong IV antibiotics. After a few days, he was showing enough improvement that he was able to be moved out of the ICU.

Unfortunately, despite being on preventative medication, on November 12, Elliott started having seizures and had to be moved back to the ICU. He is currently on several anti-seizure medications and needs to be on antibiotics for at least 6 weeks. During these six weeks, Elliott will need to remain in a hospital setting. Even then, it is uncertain if the antibiotics will fully clear out the infection or if further surgery will be needed.

Amy and Neal are spending as much time as possible at the hospital with Elliott, which limits their ability to work. In addition to caring for an infant in the hospital, they are still managing to spend time with their 3-year-old, Rowan, who must remain at home and can’t even visit his baby brother. The costs of spending this much time in the hospital as well as traveling back and forth to give Rowan some much needed time with mom and dad are adding up quickly. Any help to get them through this tough time and help this little man fight his battle are very much appreciated.