Little Kuiper’s recovery

On Wednesday 3/15 Ashley and Max noticed their 2 year old baby boy, Kuiper, wasn’t improving from a simple ear infection. He had been on antibiotics for over a week but they knew something wasn’t right. So, on gut instinct, Ash took him to Denver Health. Upon arrival, Kui was diagnosed with a severe infection that had spread to the air cells of his mastoid bone in his skull. He was quickly taken to the operating room for a wash out of his sinuses and to get tubes in his ears in order to relieve cranial pressure. When Ash was taken to see him they warned her they were having trouble stabilizing him post operatively and left it to her to decide if she wanted to see him yet. She wanted to see her baby. She walked into his room to see an entire medical staff fighting to get Kuiper’s breathing stable and heart rate down. Alarms were going off, he wasn’t breathing on his own, and 15 plus hands were on Kuiper’s little body.

No parent should ever have to experience such a horrifying and helpless situation.

Thankfully, they were able to get his breathing under control. He wasn’t able to breath without the assistance of a ventilator but was stable. It was quickly decided he needed to be transferred for more specialized care and was transported via ambulance to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital. There he began getting blood transfusions and platelets because his levels were so low from the severe infection.

The next day he got an MRI that revealed Kuiper has multiple clots throughout his body including his head, brain, and jugular. They also found a small abscess to the posterior side of his skull that was pressing onto his brain that unfortunately caused some mild damage. Nothing that little Kuiper wont be able to fully recover from, but he may have some delayed signals from his brain to the left side of his body for a while. He’s had a PICC line placed (a long term IV), started on blood thinners, and Max and Ash were told he will be on long term IV antibiotics for the infection in his skull. On top of it all, they also found that the infection has spread to his eyes.

Poor little Kuiper just couldn’t catch a break until today when the EEG revealed no seizure activity and his lungs were improving! The pathology also came back showing Kui wasn’t fighting just one infection but three!!! He has Streptococcus pneumonia, Haemophilus influenza, and Moraxella.

Through all of that they were able to decrease his sedation today and get him off the ventilator! Ash and Max FINALLY got to hold their baby boy for a sweet short period of time.

This was Kuiper’s first ear infection it is absolutely mind boggling it lead to where it did. Thank goodness Ash and Max got him to the emergency room when they did. The three of them are on a long road to recovery with little Kui. While he has proven to be one resilient and tough little peanut, his journey to baseline is going to be a long and arduous one, with round the clock care and love.

I am making this GoFund me to provide a platform for all the people who want to help Kuiper, Max and Ashley during this tough unexpected time. Let’s come together and support these two so they can focus on helping Kuiper heal and not on the financial burdens of missing work.

Thank you for your support, love, and prayers.