Dear friends and family,

My brother and Sister-in-law are in a pretty bad situation with the health of their daughter. They are the strongest, most involved parents who put their children as a high priority. They also serve their community in many ways which just shows their heart for others. It's time that we get together to help them in this time of need.

Here is an update from my brother:

"Our 17 year old daughter Savannah was in excruciating pain while at a treatment facility in Utah. She was sent to the Emergency Department where they did x-rays and a CT Scan. She had 2 baseball sized masses that were abscesses. One inside her lung, one on the outside of her lung pushing on her spine. If the one pushing on her spine waited any longer, that infection would have gotten into her spine and she would be gone. Her chest cavity was filled with puss, blood and air. Her entire right lower lobe was collapsed.

The doctors said this is called Parapneumonic Empyema which is most commonly caused by infection in the lungs.

No idea what caused the abscesses. But the abscesses caused the pain. The pain caused her to stay in bed laying down. The abscesses caused the infection in her lungs and laying down not breathing normally developed into pneumonia. The abscesses and pneumonia worked together and caused a collapsed lung.

Savannah got a chest tube draining the fluid and air from the chest wall. Her HGB was low due to a loss of a lot of blood. She currently does not need a blood transfusion but if it gets any lower, she will need one.

Lora was sent on the next flight from Fresno to Utah and was by her side all night last night (May 20, 2023). Lora will be in Utah for the next few weeks which makes it so that she cant work. I will be home holding down the fort with the other kids and the ranch. But, I've gotta work as well and with my job, I'm gone 72 - 96 hour shifts. So this is definitely going to be difficult in many ways.

As of this morning, May 21, 2023, the infection has spread. Savannah has MRSA in her blood. Infectious disease team came in and they are still trying to see if the infection came from lung and moved out to muscle or from muscle to lung, or if the infection in blood brought the large infection. They are saying she should be doing a lot worse with as large as the infection was, but Savannah is a fighter. They took out over a quart of pus in her chest. She was has bacteremia which is bacteria in her blood. They will do blood culture daily to see if it goes down. One of the abscesses was empyema which was the infected fluid in the pleural space surrounding her lung. And one abscess was paraspinous abscess which was infected fluid in the back along spine.

She will most likely be here for a minimum of two weeks for the IV antibiotics. They will be doing another CT to check on the fluids in her chest. Also they will be doing a cardiac ECHO. MRSA could attach to certain valves in the heart so they want to make sure the infection does not settle in her heart. They did agree to oxy for pain in a conservative way knowing that what she has is extremely painful. Her inflammation levels are coming down a tiny bit so that's good and her vitals are stable. They are kinda amazed that she is doing so good with just how sick she is. The infection is extremely bad and it had been brewing in her blood for quite a while, she had been sick for quite a while before she came in. The infection started long before she even came to Utah.

As we think things couldn't get any worse in the family, we are proven wrong over and over. This is an emotional strain on our family, a financial strain on the family, and definitely a mental strain on the family. Lora got a one way plane ticket to be with our baby girl with no idea on when she will be back. That means she obviously won't be at work. While I'm working on the ambulance, I've got nothing but my daughter, my wife, and my other children on my mind. I am blessed with awesome parents who are helping out with the kiddos and our animals. I am blessed with a loving God who we turn to and has full control of this situation.

I ask for your prayers over the medical staff, over my daughter, and over our family at this time."

Robert and Lora Hill