Lend a Hand to Carter's Recovery Efforts

Hello, my name is Valurie! I want to attempt to help a little guy out that had an unexpected medical emergency named Carter. Samantha Paulus, who I went to school with.. I know how expensive things get when living almost an hour from the hospital: food, gas, hotel expenses, medical equipment that insurance won’t cover, plus the bills at home pile up quickly. Not knowing what the next medical decision is going to be, you don’t leave your child’s side, simple as that.

Background on little Carter: He was with his dad and his sister when he felt like he couldn’t breathe. They thought he was having an asthma attack. When his inhaler didn’t work, everyone panicked. His dad put him in the back seat of the car, and his sister Hannah got in the back seat with her little brother. While on the way to the hospital, Carter stopped breathing. His sister started CPR in the back seat until they arrived at the hospital. Medical staff took over, and Carter was rushed to Ft. Wayne PICU. This was 5 days ago.

4 days ago, they thought they were in the clear. Carter woke up, he ate some jello, he was talking, and then things turned for the worst. Update on Carter: This is the update I wish I didn't have to make. He took a bit of a turn last night.

3 days ago, after being alert and talking, eating, yesterday during the day, about 9:30-10 last night, he started freaking out, screaming and kicking, not responding other than that. Couldn't get him to calm down, so they gave him some Ativan. He slept a few hours but not much. He ended up being basically not responsive, wouldn’t open his eyes, talk, or move. They ended up doing another EEG and MRI earlier, and the MRI is now showing some damage, mainly in the back of his brain that affects vision, which is why he wasn’t able to see well. They have him on anti-seizure meds to be safe, and other than that, all we can do is give him time and see how he comes out of it. They don’t think it will be permanent; he may have a few lasting effects, but hopefully not much. It’s going to take some physical and occupational therapy to get him moving again once he starts progressing, but at least we have answers now and know why he’s acting like this. All we can do is pray that he starts making progress and there’s no major long-term damage.

As of 23 hours ago, Update on Carter: It's been a rollercoaster of a few days for sure. Wednesday, he was pretty much completely unresponsive, wouldn’t move, open his eyes, and was basically just a limp noodle. He wouldn’t even react when they changed him or moved him—nothing. Then yesterday, he started having the episodes again where he tenses up his whole body, arms, and hands really bad, arches his back, and yells out. It was pretty consistent last night; poor kid couldn’t get a break. They were back to back almost all night. Finally, they called the doctor because his pain med wasn’t helping, and when he would get like that, his heart rate would go up to the highest we saw, which was 190. So they started Ativan every 6 hours if he needs it to help relax him so he can rest as much as he can. It seems to help some, so he’s not having them so much, but the kid is exhausted. I just wish he could get a break. The EEG yesterday showed no seizures, thank God. The doctor pretty much said at this point it’s a waiting game to see if he starts coming back to us and keeping him comfortable. They can’t even talk about moving him to Riley until he’s a little more stable and coherent and can somewhat participate in what’s going on. We want to just say thank you to everyone for the prayers and messages. We see them all, even if we don’t have time to respond. It’s easier to just make one post like this to update everyone right now. This has by far been the hardest thing his dad and I have ever had to deal with, for any of us involved really. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to have to sit here and watch him go through this, and there’s not much we can do. But I know my crazy, rambunctious little boy is still in there; it’s just going to take some time for him to come back.

Let's help this family and pull for Carter!