Jamison Meppiel

Hi everyone. This is Billy, father of Jamison Meppiel. On November 22, 2021, my and Heather Frost's son, Jamison William, had a cardiac arrest episode at around 6am. Thankfully, I was awake when this happened. 911 was called and I was able to administer CPR until the Fenton Fire District arrived on scene.

After their arrival I was not even aware that at this time our son had suffered from complete cardiac failure and was not even alive. He was rushed to SSM St. Clare in Fenton MO, was administered by CPR the entire way, and after many minutes in the ER, a heartbeat and breathing was detected.

While he was being cared for and treated at St. Clare, we had him baptized. Heather and I were both stunned and numb. One paramedic was able to pull me aside and inform me that I was a hero to our son. Confused, I wondered how. He explained to me that the CPR I administered was enough for them to later get him breathing and get his heart working again. He also explained to me that things are and were going to be very serious for my son.

Immediately following, Cardinal Glennon was called and their Air Evac team flew to St. Clare and transported our little boy to Glennon. Upon his arrival, he was listed in critical condition but his vitals were stable. I knew at this moment that this was going to be a long road to recovery.

After seeing many signs of hope and thinking Prayers were being answered, his mother and I learned that his MRI came back and there was a high amount of damage done to his brain. We both agreed to get more opinions. After more opinions and tests and scans, the results that we ALL prayed and hoped for were heartbreaking.

Almost 3 weeks later, our son was showing all of the signs and symptoms of mitochondrial disease. At this time, her and I were made aware of what this would mean for our son; a lifetime event of 24 hour home care, a feeding tube and a trach. We both decided that no one should ever have to go thru such a thing at 2 months old.

On the morning of December 11th, I got a text from Jamison's mommy and she told be his blood pressure and heart-rate were starting to rise and he was starting to turn pale. At this time, we decided that all of his family members needed to come to Cardinal and have to say their goodbyes.

Jamison, being on a ventilator and having the major brain damage, would not be able to go on without the support and care of doctors and nurses and would live in a comatose state. We then had to make the decision to pull the ventilator tube and let our faith in God guide us to what wad right for our son.

Jamison William Meppiel passed away peacefully on December 11th at 5:11pm. His mother, myself, the rest of his family and a large part of our two communities were left numb.

On Sunday morning, I returned a call to Mid Amarican Transplant. They informed me that my son, given his mothers and my approval, could donate his heart valve and cartilage from his knee to save two other babies. Who were we to say no to such an honor.

Our son was given a solid brass medal for his donation. He was layed to rest on Sunday December 19th. He will live on though. Everyone has learned so much from all of this. Although Jamison is gone from Heather's home and my home, he is still here with everyone because of his donation.

I want to thank everyone who has shown support thru donations, Prayers, visits, calls, bracelets, ornaments, etc... Our two families would of been in horrible states if it weren't for all of you.

At this time, Heather and I are going to take on over 80% of the bills. We would like to, however, ask for just a little more support so we can both be a little less stressed during the holidays. You have all been Jamison's Warriors. WE BOTH love all of you

Thank you to everyone and God Bless,

Heather Frost, William C Meppiel III and Jamison