ForEverly Strong

Nearly 10 years ago, Team Everly came together to show their love and support for a little girl and her family who faced a very big battle ahead.

We have watched as they have survived and thrived through all that MMIHS has thrown their way but this has proven to be their biggest challenge yet.

Many of Everly's biggest supporters have reached out to ask where they can donate and how they can help. Although Erin and Brody were extremely reluctant to allow us to call on their community again, we believe that one of the best ways we can support them is to help give them the gift of quality time spent with Everly.

Together we can help to relieve some of the stress caused by the financial burden that an extended PICU stay creates. We can help to supplement the income that is lost when a parent needs to be by their child's bedside instead of in the office and provide some reassurance that their needs will be met while they are taking on the most important job there is.

Follow along with Everly's journey here: ForEverly

Chain of Events:

(6/14) Everly was not feeling well and experienced stomach pain and continuous vomiting, she was taken to the ER. They did a full work up which included a lot of pokes and prods, labs, x-rays, ultrasounds, and injections. There was no evidence that her symptoms were anything that required being admitted to the hospital so she was sent home to be monitored.

(6/15) Her symptoms had not improved so she went back into the ER. They did the same tests and again nothing showed. At this time they thought it was possible that she had an illius which can be common in children with slow motility so again she was sent home for monitoring.

(6/16) Everly was up all night retching and in extreme pain. On Tuesday morning (6/17) Erin and Brody were driving to an appointment with her pediatrician when she lost consciousness. They raced to the ER where they were met at the door by nearly 20 staff members ready to work on Evie.

They were able to get her to respond but suspected that she was now in septic shock. After additional tests it was decided that she needed to be intubated, sedated and transferred to a bigger hospital for a higher level of care.

Erin, Everly, and Brody were then airlifted to Fargo where Everly continued to deteriorate. Her fever increased and her blood pressure was dangerously low. More tests were done and the team in Fargo decided that Everly might need to be put on ECMO which is a machine that can do the work for her heart and lungs.

For this reason she was airlifted to Minneapolis.

(6/18) Everly needed emergency surgery to relieve the pressure in her body. Around 8PM she went into surgery where they made an incision from her sternum to her pelvis. They also “milked” her intestines to remove excess fluid. A wound vac was placed over the incision and tubes were inserted to administer and remove fluid throughout her abdomen.

Since surgery she has had chest tubes placed to drain fluid around her lungs and she is currently connected to a dialysis machine that will help her kidneys to function.

(6/19 and after) Since surgery Everly has been cared for around the clock. It was determined that she acquired C. diff in her small bowel which is extremely rare and hard to treat.

In addition to fighting this infection she is also working to recover from the toll that sepsis took on her body as well as the complexities of MMIHS.

Everly's fight continues daily in all kinds of ways and we stand by her side as an incredible team of professionals work to help her heal.