Hi my name is Katie and we are raising funds for our 19 year old son Gabriel. He came home from work on Thursday Feb 2nd with a really bad stomach pain. He saw his pediatrician that day to find out what was going on and to make sure he didn’t have flu since he was exposed . Gabriel was positive for flu B. He went home and rested to wake up Friday with a fever and still stomach pain. Slept a lot and on Saturday called me in what he described as someone taking a hammer wrapped in spikes hitting his stomach and testicular area. He said he couldn’t walk and his arms were tingling and fingers numb. I told him I was calling his brother since they live together to take him to the ER and I would meet them there. Gabriel almost collapsed twice coming down the 2 flights of stairs to the car and when he got to the ER was shaking so bad his teeth were chattering where he again collapsed and the nurse and my son had to catch him. I arrived soon after to see my son sitting in a chair shaking, teeth chattering and crying saying mom help me, make it stop. My older son said mom they haven’t called him back yet. After making the nurses aware something was seriously wrong and wanting an EKG on my son they finally got him in. They did a testicular Ultrasound to rule out testicular torsion. The ultrasound tech was so rude. Bumped him into a total of five walls and when my son and I tried to help, she told us don’t touch. During the ultrasound, Gabriel told her he couldn’t breathe and she told him honey you’re only halfway there keep your mask on. The ultrasound came back normal. Gabriel’s fever had then reached 103.1, He was then stripped of his blankets, given nothing for his fever, and waiting for labs to come back to make sure he was OK to have a CT of his abdomen with contrast. Once those came back clear, they did the CT. In the meantime, gave him 2 1/2 bags of sodium chloride and still cannot get a urine sample from Gabriel. The CT of the abdomen came back with a diagnosis of colitis. The doctor expressed calling a colorectal surgeon to see if he wanted him admitted for bacterial colitis and IV antibiotics or if it was viral, he would be discharged home. Mind you it is been seven hours and Gabriel still had yet to urinate. They did a bladder scan on him to determine he had 7 ounces (half a coke can) Gabriel said stand me up so I can try and Pee. It was a success however it was so dark it was almost Brown. There were no more fluids given and Gabriel was released with a diagnosis of viral colitis and said his symptoms were so bad because he had tested positive for the flu several days before. 12 1/2 hours later I was called by the same doctor that released us stating the radiologist made a mistake and read his report wrong, he said what he thought was bowel floating around, was actually his appendix ruptured, and we needed to come back to the hospital for IV antibiotics and surgery. We arrived back to the hospital just to be greeted with. We have more bad news. We don’t have a surgeon here that can perform his surgery and we have to transport him. Then the doctor came in and greeted us with more bad news, stating transportation was going to take anywhere from 1 hour to 5 hours more likely 5 . They by this time had already started an IV and we’re getting ready to administer IV anabiotic’s. I looked at the doctor and said I am not waiting five hours for my son to turn sepsis I will drive him myself, I was then told they would have to remove the IV and start the process all over at any other ER if I do that. We agreed on a doctor to doctor transfer and she allowed me to drive my son after his antibiotics were done to the ER with his IV in the arm ready for the next hospital. we arrived at the next hospital just to sit and wait another two hours before he was in surgery. The surgery team came in and warned me that they thought his appendix had perforated. The doctor came out and told us the surgery went well but this was a total missed diagnosis and his appendix had perforated, and he became sepsis. Walking into PACU to see our son, struggling to breathe and stating between 89 and 90 on his O2 Was incredibly hard. Not only could he not breathe, but he was constantly coughing due to being intubated then started coughing up blood. It was a decent amount of blood so they decided to do another CT to make sure he didn’t have a PE or some thing else starting They also did a chest x-ray, which revealed his right lung was completely full of fluid. It was then that the doctor looked at me and said Mrs. Brice this is gonna turn worse before it gets better due to how bad his infection was. They were also concerned about a secondary infection starting because of the amount of time the appendix had ruptured inside of him. They said Gabriel could develop abscess in his stomach where they would have to go in and clean it back out and put drain tubes in if that happened. Gabriel’s next CAT scan turned out OK however he was then admitted into ICU where I saw my son’s oxygen levels drop into the low 80s. Our son had to be put on 15 L of oxygen and was still not getting above 90 they decided they needed to intubate and put him on a ventilator to save his life. Gabriel was diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Nothing in life prepares you for seeing your own child lie there lifeless with a machine breathing for him. Thank the Lord above that we know so many people that are active believers in God and prayed. there were well over 1000 people praying for our son. The doctor said he wanted April on the ventilator for 2 to 3 days. Hardest 36 hours of our life not being able to see my son smile, hear his voice and know that he’s going to be OK. Gabriel is so strong and we r

ruly believe the power of prayer is why he is still here. Unfortunately, Gabriel had been working for his company for four months through a temp agency, and they had just offered him a full-time position which was set to start that following Monday, 6th of February. Gabriel had just moved in to his first apartment with his brother and sister-in-law and another roommate, and also bought his first car about a month prior. Gabriel was released from the hospital yesterday with a very long road ahead of him. He cannot work for several weeks, and even when they release him, it will be light duty for the first month. Gabriel‘s work is not light duty and we’re praying. They will find something to accommodate him and or just hold his job. We are asking for a little bit of help to accommodate his portion of the rent and the rest of his bills. Dad and I will make sure all the medical is taken care, just don’t want Gabriel to suffer due to this hospital’s negligence.. we are also asking for continuous prayer as Gabriel could develop these abscess in his stomach through day 10 after surgery. The surgeon stated at day 10 if he is still showing no signs of these abscess forming he would be safe to say, he’s ok at that point.

We thank you all from the bottom of our heart for all the prayers, thoughts, visitors etc.

please pray for Gabriel as he is a true Miracle of God.