Marie and Harper

6 year old Harper was born with a tethered spinal cord and the doctors said they wouldn’t do surgery until it became absolutely necessary. In November it became necessary due to complications of bowel, bladder, and legs. Her surgery was on December 4th and seemed to go as expected. She was released in five days instead of the ten they had expected. On December 12th she ended up back in the hospital with an infection in her incision. They had to open the incision and clean it out and installed a wound vac. This involved two more O.R. visits and 5 more days in the hospital. After being sent home she was soon back in the hospital with another infection and the flu on New Years Day. After spending 2 more days in the hospital she was discharged again. On January 9th she began leaking spinal fluid from her incision. She was screaming with a head pain, her mom rushed her to the hospital and on the way Harper  became unresponsive. They performed surgery early Wednesday. They put a new patch on to stop the leak and put another wound vac in to help with the infection. Harper had a really difficult time waking up after surgery.  Her surgeon and many other physicians ran a bunch of tests and determined she had spinal meningitis. The next day she began leaking spinal fluid again so the surgeon went back in and sewed the patch with a heavier thread and removed the wound vac and put in sponges.  For a week straight Harper went to the O.R. to get the sponges changed. They finally were able to close and she remains on bed rest until further notice. She’s had multiple CT scans and x-rays and blood tests etc. This little girl needs all of our prayers. 

Marie, her mom, who has been with her every minute, hasn’t gotten much sleep or rest and hasn’t been able to work much since December 4th.  

As a mom, myself, I couldn't imagine dealing with the worry of a child in addition to worrying about bills and food.  I hope we, as a community, can come together and take a little of the burden off Marie's shoulders so she can focus 100% on helping Harper get better.