On January 6, 2021, Ollie (4) started feeling bad. At the time, it seemed like a small cold but as the days progressed he stopped eating, refused to get out of bed and then started refusing drinks. He went from an energetic little boy to a lethargic child that couldn’t string words together to form a sentence. 

By Friday, January 8th, the decision was made to take him to the doctor for testing. He was tested for Covid, Flu, Strep and RSV. Everything came back negative with the exception of Covid which had a longer wait time. He went home with instructions to alternate Tylenol and ibuprofen to keep his temps down. 

Saturday, January 9th, he had not ate anything since Wednesday and was refusing all drinks. The decision was made to take him to the emergency room to at least get some fluids in him. He didn’t perk up like expected so he was admitted. While in his room he got agitated and ripped out his IV. Within 15 minutes he became non responsive. He developed swelling behind his eye, and his speech became unintelligible. We were told he was being sent to children’s. 

Sunday , January 10th, Ollie was transported to Arkansas Children’s Hospital via ambulance. He arrived around 5am. It was the first time Meningitis was mentioned in passing.  By 10:30am he was diagnosed with Covid. Unfortunately that changed how he could be treated but also started a whole new line for what was going on with him. An Echocardiogram showed decreased heart function. The swelling on his head meant the need for an MRI and Lumbar puncture. Those were done around 7:30pm. Because of his age he was put under anesthesia for both. He fell asleep afterwards and stayed that way till morning.


Monday, January 11th,  I woke up to a meeting with the doctor. Ollie has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of Bacterial Meningitis. It has now overtaken covid in importance but because of the Covid it is unsure what other complications have occurred . Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome-Covid, MIS-C, has been mentioned but they have to do multiple tests to rule out other things before we get the actual diagnosis of MIS-C as well. He will be at Arkansas Children’s Hospital for at least 3 weeks while under going an aggressive antibiotic treatment. 

His father and I, mother, will be staying with him as much as possible thanks to wonderful family support with his two siblings. Unfortunately the Ronald McDonald House is at capacity so we have to stay in a hotel. Thankfully the room is discounted somewhat but the expenses are already beginning to gather. 

His current conditions are:
♥️Decreased heart function
Covid
Bacterial Meningitis 

Any help would be appreciated. Funds will be used for housing, food and gas.