Stephanie, Cody & Cole Martin

I hope this message finds you well, although my reason for reaching out is incredibly heavy hearted.

Cole Martin, 16 year old son of Stephanie (Doss) and Cody Martin is severely ill.

Stephanie and Cody thought Cole had a typical stomach bug, but 3 days later an emergency room visit at Terrebonne General Medical Center confirmed that Cole was in septic shock due to necrotizing pancreatitis.

The next hour their lives turned upside down as Cole arrived at Children’s Hospital via air med, where he was immediately intubated and sedated, and has been since April 19th.

Every day of their 9 week stay at Children’s has brought on new symptoms and challenges. Many of Cole’s organs are in a dysfunctional state. Majority of his pancreas is dead, and he has undergone a variety of different procedures, many to remove the dead tissue and excess fluid that has formed around his pancreas.

Damage to the pancreatic duct leads to continuous leakage of pancreatic fluid into the peritoneal cavity, which is causing a significant increase of fluid retention in his abdomen.

He has had several endoscopic procedures and just within one procedure 20 gall stones were removed and a temporary stent was put in place to help with bile flow.

Cole also required placement of 5 drain tubes in his abdomen due to ascites paracentesis (excessive fluid in the abdomen).

A fungal infection is now present in his lungs and abdomen.

Due to Cole’s fragile status, surgical intervention is not advised at this time.

His kidneys are badly damaged, but here recently have shown improvement, but still require intermittent dialysis.

He is also on high doses of steroids due to an enlarged spleen, high ferritin levels and being anemic. Doctors are treating this as Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), hoping the steroids will slow down his overactive immune system.

Due to Cole being on a mechanical ventilation machine for 9 weeks, he is scheduled to have a tracheostomy, which will assist with his breathing, and will also biopsy his liver to hopefully determine the cause of high lab numbers.

If by God’s grace Cole’s body can overcome all these obstacles, he will have a very long road to recovery, not only physically, but also mentally.

You see, Cole is not your average 16 year old. He was diagnosed with autism at age 4. Life has not been easy for Cole, Stephanie and Cody. Cole is mostly non-verbal, only speaking a few words. He is also aggressive and cannot control his behavior, at no fault of his own, which is the scary side of Stephanie and Cody’s life that not many people are familiar with or aware of. Because of Cole’s aggressive behavior, he is only able to attend school for exceptional children for a few hours per day and finding an in-house sitter is not possible.

Stephanie had to step away from her career 3 years ago in order to give Cole the full time care he needs at their home. Anyone that knows Stephanie and Cody would wholeheartedly agree that they are the most caring and selfless individuals on this earth. To know them is to love them and they are both so very loved.

Since Cole’s admission to Children’s Hospital, neither Stephanie nor Cody has left his side.

Cody, who is the sole provider and main source of income for their family, has been on unpaid leave, not sure when he will be able to return to work.

If you are in a position to help, please consider helping The Martin’s during this difficult time.

If you can’t help, please lift Cole up in your prayers to beat this illness.

Thank you!

Ashley Lyons