Help for Liam's Medical Expenses
Donation protected
New Year’s Eve is a night that most of us celebrate with friends and family. Unfortunately for the Merrill family, what started out as a night in with close friends turned into the worst night of their lives.
While preparing the food and getting ready for company, Collin heard a sound from his 17 month old’s bedroom. Upon checking the monitor, he thought that Liam had just spit up in his crib, but when he went to check on his baby boy he was horrified to see that what he thought was spit up was actually blood. Liam’s entire body was a pale white, his eyes were jet black and he couldn’t hold his head up on his own. Collin and Amy had found themselves in every parent’s worst nightmare. Adrenaline kicked in and within minutes they were in the car heading to the hospital. While Amy was tending to Liam, Collin was calling 911. An ambulance met them on their way to the hospital and transported Amy and Liam while Collin followed close behind. Once at the hospital, a number of doctors and nurses immediately started trying to save this sweet little boy’s life, Liam had lost over half of his blood and Collin and Amy thought that they were about to say goodbye to their only child. Miraculously, Liam was stabilized but still in critical condition. Only after did the doctors tell them that if they had found Liam just a few minutes later, they would have lost their son.
After being moved to Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital, Liam was immediately admitted into the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). He was in the PICU for over three days while the doctors worked to find the underlying cause of Liam’s excessive blood loss. After a clean scope of his gastro intestines, the doctors only had one option left. Liam was tested for Meckel’s Diverticulum, an outpouching or bulge in the lower part of the small intestine. The bulge is congenital and is a leftover of the umbilical cord. In Liam’s case, this bulge had perforated causing the sudden loss of blood that the Merrill’s had experienced on New Year’s Eve. A perforation allows food, digestive juices, or intestinal contents to leak into the abdomen (or sometimes the chest, if the esophagus is perforated). These materials are very irritating and contain bacteria, which cause severe inflammation and infection that are typically fatal if untreated. In addition the perforation, the bulge was larger than normal. The specialist that operated on Liam only saw this particular case one other time in his career, which they then published a paper on. They needed to remove a portion of the lower intestines and sew them back together. Liam responded well to the surgery, but unfortunately a few days later there were some complications.
Three days later, Liam couldn’t keep anything down and was running an extremely high fever. It turned out to be an infection and the intestines that had just been mended were now knotted up and not allowing anything to pass. Liam was rushed in for another emergency surgery. His second in the span of a week. He is now recovering in the hospital with his parents as they wait to see whether this latest operation has finally fixed the issue. It has been 13 days since their nightmare began and they still don’t have a clear timeline of when they can hope to leave the hospital. In that time, both parents have been out of work with Collin using sick leave and Amy having no other choice to either use all of her PTO (Paid Time Off) for 2020 or FMLA (which is unpaid). On top of this, since this horrific incident occurred on the last day of 2019, they are looking at paying deductibles for both 2019 and 2020 as well as multiple tests/hospital amenities that may not be covered.
I am starting this GoFundMe on behalf of two of my best friends, Collin and Amy. I am hoping that we can raise enough money to cover any medical costs that may not be covered by their insurance and try to make sure that medical bills is not something they need to add to the worry list. Any donations will be greatly appreciated and hopefully we can see this sweet baby boy dancing and giggling once again really soon.
While preparing the food and getting ready for company, Collin heard a sound from his 17 month old’s bedroom. Upon checking the monitor, he thought that Liam had just spit up in his crib, but when he went to check on his baby boy he was horrified to see that what he thought was spit up was actually blood. Liam’s entire body was a pale white, his eyes were jet black and he couldn’t hold his head up on his own. Collin and Amy had found themselves in every parent’s worst nightmare. Adrenaline kicked in and within minutes they were in the car heading to the hospital. While Amy was tending to Liam, Collin was calling 911. An ambulance met them on their way to the hospital and transported Amy and Liam while Collin followed close behind. Once at the hospital, a number of doctors and nurses immediately started trying to save this sweet little boy’s life, Liam had lost over half of his blood and Collin and Amy thought that they were about to say goodbye to their only child. Miraculously, Liam was stabilized but still in critical condition. Only after did the doctors tell them that if they had found Liam just a few minutes later, they would have lost their son.
After being moved to Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital, Liam was immediately admitted into the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). He was in the PICU for over three days while the doctors worked to find the underlying cause of Liam’s excessive blood loss. After a clean scope of his gastro intestines, the doctors only had one option left. Liam was tested for Meckel’s Diverticulum, an outpouching or bulge in the lower part of the small intestine. The bulge is congenital and is a leftover of the umbilical cord. In Liam’s case, this bulge had perforated causing the sudden loss of blood that the Merrill’s had experienced on New Year’s Eve. A perforation allows food, digestive juices, or intestinal contents to leak into the abdomen (or sometimes the chest, if the esophagus is perforated). These materials are very irritating and contain bacteria, which cause severe inflammation and infection that are typically fatal if untreated. In addition the perforation, the bulge was larger than normal. The specialist that operated on Liam only saw this particular case one other time in his career, which they then published a paper on. They needed to remove a portion of the lower intestines and sew them back together. Liam responded well to the surgery, but unfortunately a few days later there were some complications.
Three days later, Liam couldn’t keep anything down and was running an extremely high fever. It turned out to be an infection and the intestines that had just been mended were now knotted up and not allowing anything to pass. Liam was rushed in for another emergency surgery. His second in the span of a week. He is now recovering in the hospital with his parents as they wait to see whether this latest operation has finally fixed the issue. It has been 13 days since their nightmare began and they still don’t have a clear timeline of when they can hope to leave the hospital. In that time, both parents have been out of work with Collin using sick leave and Amy having no other choice to either use all of her PTO (Paid Time Off) for 2020 or FMLA (which is unpaid). On top of this, since this horrific incident occurred on the last day of 2019, they are looking at paying deductibles for both 2019 and 2020 as well as multiple tests/hospital amenities that may not be covered.
I am starting this GoFundMe on behalf of two of my best friends, Collin and Amy. I am hoping that we can raise enough money to cover any medical costs that may not be covered by their insurance and try to make sure that medical bills is not something they need to add to the worry list. Any donations will be greatly appreciated and hopefully we can see this sweet baby boy dancing and giggling once again really soon.
Organizer and beneficiary
Shannon Lefrancois
Organizer
Lowell, NC
Collin Merrill
Beneficiary