Over the past 3 weeks, many of you have been following my nephew, Colt’s, story. Lyn and Brian took him to Urgent Care hoping to be told they were simply being worried first-time parents.  Instead, they were immediately sent to the ER by a heads-up pediatrician who correctly guessed that Colt had bacterial meningitis and/or sepsis. 

Colt was admitted to Los Robles and started on antibiotics. His spinal tap confirmed he had bacterial meningitis and sepsis caused by Group B Strep bacteria.  Three days into his stay in the PICU at Los Robles, Colt began to to have seizures.  He was then airlifted to UCLA for additional care, where he remains today.  Since then, it’s been a roller coaster.  Colt’s case is complex and the bacteria is very stubborn.  Colt has had seizures, surgery to remove empyemas in his brain, a small stroke, a blood transfusion, countless MRI’s and a lot of medication.  After all that, he’s finally stable and improving.  He still has pockets of infection in his brain (abscesses) that need to be reached by the antibiotics and he will be at UCLA for 3-5 additional weeks for treatment.  Upon release, Colt will require ongoing medication for seizures and quite a bit of follow-up with specialists to evaluate any permanent impact that results from his illness.

Lyn is on maternity leave still (Colt is just 8 weeks old now) and Brian has had to take a leave from his job as a nursing assistant. They’ve been in a hotel in order to be close to Colt and to support each other. Their ability to visit Colt is complicated by COVID-19, but they’re working through it with strong partnerships with the staff at UCLA. 

So many of you have reached out asking how to help. At your suggestion, we’re starting a GoFundMe to help with their mounting expenses. While they’re lucky to have insurance, it will not cover everything.  If we can alleviate any of the burden from them as they move forward, I know they’ll appreciate it. It’ll allow them to focus on Colt.