Help with Dylan’s On-Going Medical Expenses
Donation protected
Dylan’s fund has been created to help with medical expenses after a one in a million diagnosis of Rhino-virus and Para-Flu (cold & flu) caused multi-system failure and landed him in the Pediatric ICU for weeks while he fights for his life.
Before this happened, Dylan was your average 2 year-old boy. He loved singing, dancing, playing cars and to trying to keep up with his 4 year-old sister.
November 4th began like any other day at the Bollinger home. The family ate breakfast and discussed what they were going to do to celebrate his sister’s birthday. Dylan was happy, healthy and rambunctious. Things took a sudden turn when he suffered his first seizure.
Dylan was rushed to the hospital in Elgin, IL where his fever spiked to 106.6 and he underwent several smaller seizures and his first cardiopulmonary arrest (per the doctors: he “coded”). Due to the severity of his condition, the decision was made to transfer Dylan to Advocate Lutheran Children’s Hospital where he remains today.
The next day we were told Dylan had Acute Hepatic (liver) Failure and he coded twice more. Thankfully through this nightmare we have been surrounded by a wonderful team of specialists who work around the clock to care for Dylan. His team has tested him for EVERYTHING trying to determine the root cause of Dylan’s condition.
An MRI uncovered that the virus attacked his brain. Dylan was diagnosed with Necrotic Encephalitis (damage to the brain). While we could see the areas of the brain affected, we did not know the extent of the damage. We were told that Dylan has age on his side - since the brain of a 2 year-old child is not fully developed they are hopeful other parts of his brain will help compensate.
A short time later, Dylan’s kidneys began to fail. He was diagnosed with Acute Renal Failure. We wheeled him down to surgery to have catheters put in for Peritoneal Dialysis (a type of kidney dialysis to clean his infected blood).
While the devastating news kept coming, Dylan remained a champion fighter – his little body trying to staunch the onslaught of the many attacks. He had to have platelet transfusions, blood transfusions, was intubated, a continuous EEG, main line, broken teeth, IV’s everywhere etc. etc. This went on for over two weeks. Doctors in the Infectious Disease Department said all of his labs and cultures came back ‘clean’. The only thing they could find was Parainfluenza & Rhinovirus (flu & cold). Unfortunately, Dylan’s case of cold and flu is one in a million.
Three weeks have gone by and his liver enzymes and kidney markers have improved to near normal levels! Next week Dylan is scheduled to have the dialysis catheters removed.
However, after regaining consciousness we are now keenly aware of the many hurdles our little guy will have to overcome. He has started to have neuro storms: disorders of sympathetic function after a traumatic brain injury that result in alterations of body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, sweating, and muscle tone. He will also have a gastronomy tube surgically inserted for feeding.
There is a very long road to recovery for Dylan. While the doctors say the long term affects are unknown, the family has watched this amazing toddler fight. We will continue to cheer him on while he goes through an intensive Physical Therapy regimen once released from ICU - Dylan will work on relearning to eat, talk, walk, and have other purposeful movements. We all hope and pray for a full recovery.
As you might guess, Dylan’s medical bills are astronomical. If you are looking for a way to assist the Bollinger family in this time of great need, please consider making a financial (tax free) donation directly to Erica & Luke Bollinger. Your help would be deeply appreciated.
And most important – please keep this amazingly strong little boy in your prayers.
We thank you for your support for Dylan and his family.
Before this happened, Dylan was your average 2 year-old boy. He loved singing, dancing, playing cars and to trying to keep up with his 4 year-old sister.
November 4th began like any other day at the Bollinger home. The family ate breakfast and discussed what they were going to do to celebrate his sister’s birthday. Dylan was happy, healthy and rambunctious. Things took a sudden turn when he suffered his first seizure.
Dylan was rushed to the hospital in Elgin, IL where his fever spiked to 106.6 and he underwent several smaller seizures and his first cardiopulmonary arrest (per the doctors: he “coded”). Due to the severity of his condition, the decision was made to transfer Dylan to Advocate Lutheran Children’s Hospital where he remains today.
The next day we were told Dylan had Acute Hepatic (liver) Failure and he coded twice more. Thankfully through this nightmare we have been surrounded by a wonderful team of specialists who work around the clock to care for Dylan. His team has tested him for EVERYTHING trying to determine the root cause of Dylan’s condition.
An MRI uncovered that the virus attacked his brain. Dylan was diagnosed with Necrotic Encephalitis (damage to the brain). While we could see the areas of the brain affected, we did not know the extent of the damage. We were told that Dylan has age on his side - since the brain of a 2 year-old child is not fully developed they are hopeful other parts of his brain will help compensate.
A short time later, Dylan’s kidneys began to fail. He was diagnosed with Acute Renal Failure. We wheeled him down to surgery to have catheters put in for Peritoneal Dialysis (a type of kidney dialysis to clean his infected blood).
While the devastating news kept coming, Dylan remained a champion fighter – his little body trying to staunch the onslaught of the many attacks. He had to have platelet transfusions, blood transfusions, was intubated, a continuous EEG, main line, broken teeth, IV’s everywhere etc. etc. This went on for over two weeks. Doctors in the Infectious Disease Department said all of his labs and cultures came back ‘clean’. The only thing they could find was Parainfluenza & Rhinovirus (flu & cold). Unfortunately, Dylan’s case of cold and flu is one in a million.
Three weeks have gone by and his liver enzymes and kidney markers have improved to near normal levels! Next week Dylan is scheduled to have the dialysis catheters removed.
However, after regaining consciousness we are now keenly aware of the many hurdles our little guy will have to overcome. He has started to have neuro storms: disorders of sympathetic function after a traumatic brain injury that result in alterations of body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, sweating, and muscle tone. He will also have a gastronomy tube surgically inserted for feeding.
There is a very long road to recovery for Dylan. While the doctors say the long term affects are unknown, the family has watched this amazing toddler fight. We will continue to cheer him on while he goes through an intensive Physical Therapy regimen once released from ICU - Dylan will work on relearning to eat, talk, walk, and have other purposeful movements. We all hope and pray for a full recovery.
As you might guess, Dylan’s medical bills are astronomical. If you are looking for a way to assist the Bollinger family in this time of great need, please consider making a financial (tax free) donation directly to Erica & Luke Bollinger. Your help would be deeply appreciated.
And most important – please keep this amazingly strong little boy in your prayers.
We thank you for your support for Dylan and his family.
Co-organizers (2)
Nicole Leanne
Organizer
Elgin, IL
Erica Bollinger
Beneficiary
Josh Forrester
Co-organizer