Help Kevin Jr. and Family Through This Crisis

As many of you know, our friends, Kevin and Maureen's son, Kevin Jr. was in a severe accident yesterday. He had picked up his youngest child and was headed up to Lake City to be with his family for Memorial Day Weekend when the accident occurred. By the grace of God, his baby, after being checked out by the hospital, was cleared and is now home. But Kevin Jr. was ejected from his vehicle and airlifted with life-threatening injuries to a local hospital. He is currently in a coma, has brain bleeds, and multiple minor and severe injuries. All prayers are welcome while his family waits for more definitive answers on his condition.

Kevin, Maureen, and the family are going to face some challenges ahead. They left immediately upon hearing about the accident, having to close shop and leave work indefinitely until they have answers. The expenses are already piling up, not to mention the medical bills. I'd like to assist them in any way we can, even if it's only relieving some of the financial stress. Anything will help! Prayers included! All proceeds will go directly to the Schlipfs. If you'd rather help directly, you can send directly to Maureen at Cashapp or Apple Pay: $MaureenSchlipf.

Update from Maureen: "Well plans for letting our son rest today were changed! He was awakened and kept his eyes open for several minutes! This time wasn’t as bad as the others. His heart rate and BP did go up but nothing like yesterday. They are going to perform a “bronch “ test next to check his lungs. This is not an invasive procedure due to him already having been intubated. This is just to insure no mucus plugs and improve his oxygen levels. Another C scan scheduled tomorrow morning! Keep the prayers coming-THEY WORK !"

Update as of this morning (05/28):

Ok! So the doc came in this morning and we have some plans. They would like to do the trach and feeding tube placement today but right now he is needing too much oxygen on the ventilator for it to be safe to do the procedure. They are changing some settings on the ventilator to see how he tolerates and will try to do the procedure this afternoon. His hemoglobin is also a little low so they will give him some blood which may also help him with the oxygen requirements. They are also going to do a CT scan of his chest to make sure he has no blood clots in his lungs. They do not have any signs of him actively bleeding they said his hemoglobin being low may just from the trauma but the CT will help show if there is anything to be concerned about.

We are asking for continued prayers for his brain to heal and for him to wake up and be less agitated and follow commands Specific prayers for today that his lungs will tolerate the decrease in oxygen and that they will be able to safely do the procedure this afternoon

Update 05/29:

Sorry for the late update yall! First CT scan from yesterday showed no blood clots and he has tolerated decreased oxygen settings on the ventilator well maintaining his oxygen saturation levels. He still has higher pressure settings than they would like to do the trach. This means the machine is providing more pressure to keep his lungs expanded. The reason they do not want to do the trach with these settings is because they have to take him off of the ventilator briefly when switching him to the trach and they worry his lungs may collapse again and that his brain will not get enough oxygen. This morning the chest xray shows mild pneumonia . This is not uncommon with him being on a ventilator and being a big guy laying in a hospital bed for several days. The good news is he is NOT septic so the infection is not in his blood! They will treat the pneumonia with strong antibiotics and then do the procedure in a couple days for the trach and feeding tube. They believe the pneumonia is the reason he is requiring the higher settings on the ventilator as well. So while this is a minor set back it seems to have been caught early and they seem confident in being able to treat it and move forward. The doctor said today that his brain injury is one that takes TIME! He said the most important factors for this type is

BP-if he was having trouble keeping his BP up that would be an issue (we have the opposite problem with him which is ok!)

Oxygen- they want oxygen levels above 94% and his for the most part have stayed above that.

Seizures- they want to prevent seizures as they could cause more damage to the brain. So far he has had no known seizures ! The will put the monitor back on his head for a couple days to ensure he is not having any small ones and if he does there are things they can give him to prevent them. Also one of the sedatives that he is on can hide seizures from the monitor so they will be changing him to something else.

Continued prayers are appreciated for our entire family. Specific prayers that the infection in his lungs will be easily treated and he continues to make steps forward! And for my parents as they are there by his side around the clock and just want their baby to wake up ❤️

#FightWithBoo

#BooGangStrong

Update from Morgan 05/30:

Update from the team this morning gave some new information. Apparently he had some pneumonia when he arrived at the hospital. From what mom said he had been pretty sick about a week before the accident and the doctor today said he had pneumonia then. That combined with the trauma from the accident is giving him a little more trouble with his lungs. Yesterday he tolerated the decrease of the ventilator settings very well until last night with the mucous plug. Today the doctor said that he believes from the previous pneumonia and all that he has gone through he now is developing some scarring on his lungs. The treatment for this is 1-3 weeks of IV steroids which they will start right away. The goal and hope if that with a few days of steroids his lungs will improve and they can move forward with the trach. With the issues overnight they did have to increase his sedation and the ventilator settings. Mom hit her breaking point overnight with all the stress so prayers appreciated for her. And for dad as he is remaining strong through this. Specific prayers for Boo/Kevin would be to have the steroids work and his lungs to improve. As always prayers for the doctors and nurses and care team as well.

Exodus 15:25-26

25And he cried to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lordv made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he proved them

26saying, “If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord, your healer.”

#FightWithBoo

#BooGangStrong

Update as per Morgan 06/04:

We have a trach! Procedure went well and they were able to do a bronchoscopy as well and clean out the lungs ❤️. He had a lot of mucous in there which was not helping him. Mom is calling this one a Toddler step instead of a Baby step

Maureen just messaged me and sent me video of him opening his eye's and blinking in response to them talking to him. They have taken him off some of the heavier sedation and while he is responsive to them, it also allows him to feel the pain of his injuries. So let's keep praying !!

Update from Morgan 06/16:

Today was a tough one. He has another episode of his heart stopping this morning . They had made some changes the last couple days with some of his BP meds and think that may have contributed to it so they cut back some of those. Today we tried giving just scheduled meds and not giving PRN meds routinely and he seemed to tolerate it well. They added a lidocaine patch for the left shoulder to help with the pain. He was on CPAP settings for more than 24 hours and then had a severe coughing fit while on his side which caused the trach to become dislodged. This is not totally uncommon for patients that have a trach and it was addressed quickly. They did decide to put him back to vent settings to allow him to rest some. I anticipate Dr. J will want him back on CPAP tomorrow as he was tolerating that well. Please send extra prayers for my parents as they are by his side watching all of this unfold and it is not easy for them. I remain faithful and know that God has got us all and He will get us through. ❤️

#FightWithBoo

#BooGangStrong

Update from Morgan:

We have had another day of good progress! He has been on the T-piece for the trach since 9:30 this morning. He has tolerated this well with some expected increase in coughing. They started the stimulant medication to help him wake up more but it will take a few days before we see results with that. Today he was awake/eyes open for longer periods and more often. He was tracking more with his eyes to people speaking to him. He seemed to be trying to follow commands but still a little weak. We are so thankful for the miracle taking place in front of us ❤️. Please continue to pray for God’s Will in his journey and for strength for our family. Tomorrow is his 27th birthday and we are beyond grateful that he is still here to celebrate it, albeit a little differently this year ❤️

#FightWithBoo

#BooGangStrong

*Today is Kevin Jr.s 27th birthday! While his progress is slow and steady and he may not be able to celebrate it in the traditional sense, we are so thankful that he is here with his Mom and Dad by his side. Continued prayers for Kevin Jr and his family! God is good.