Stand with Ashton in His Healing Process

1/1/2025

Hello,

My name is Taylor Meeks and I am writing this on behalf of Amy, Tony, and Ashton Acker. On Saturday, 12/28/2024, Ashton was in an accident. Ashton was flown to Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando that night. Ashton fractured his skull, causing severe swelling and bleeding. Upon arrival at the hospital, Ashton was immediately sent into surgery to remove a hematoma in the brain and left the bone off part of his brain. He was then placed in a medically induced coma. Below I have reposted updates that have been provided over the last few days:

12/30/2024: Ashton decided he was done with his breathing tube, sat up in bed, and pulled it out. He was responsive, awake, and alert. Fortunately, the respiratory therapist was outside the door and jumped into action. His neurosurgeon rounded and saw Ashton. They were pleased with his progress.

12/31/2024: Ashton had a rough night. They took him off fentanyl and decreased his precedex so they could slowly pull him off sedation. They also removed his Foley in hopes that he could urinate on his own. Due to all of this, his vital signs were all over the place.

12/31/2024: Ashton had a positive day yesterday. They removed his intracranial pressure monitor, the arterial line in his right wrist, changed his dressing on his head, took him off high-flow oxygen, and removed his catheter. He wasn’t able to urinate on his own last night, so they straight-cathed him. They were supposed to cath him at 7:30 and didn’t do it until 11, so he was experiencing a lot of pain and hyperventilating. They decreased the precedex in half, and he was agitated. He had to be straight-cathed again, after my strong assertiveness, due to his vitals becoming high and oxygen level low. The neurosurgeon came in this morning and said from a neurological standpoint he is ahead of the curve and doing great. Which is positive; however, we have to stabilize his oxygen and respirations. They put him back on high-flow oxygen and tried a few breathing exercises. His respirations are high, and now his sodium level is high.

12/31/2024 at 5 PM: Ash has had a major setback. He is in acute respiratory distress. They have increased his precedex and are going to put him on BiPAP. They may have to put him back on the vent; we will see what he does through the night. He is getting extra fluid in the body, so they are going to give him Lasix and put the Foley back in.

12/31/2024 at 8:30 PM: Ashton is on BiPAP. He was given morphine, Ativan, and Tylenol to help him rest since he was so anxious. They want him resting comfortably through the night so in the morning they can decide if he needs to go back on the ventilator or what the next step will be.

1/1/2025 at 9:30 AM: We are starting the year off on a new fresh step. He is still on BiPAP, but they dropped the machine from 60% to 50% concentration. It is good to start a very slight wean off the machine. Ash is resting comfortably, his vitals are stable, and his sweet self is coming back. He will say, “Can I please have some water?” and follow it with “What kind of water is that?” I said it’s tap water with ice, and his reply was, “Oh, that’s so fresh.” He isn’t awake much due to the medications but will speak once in a while, and he smiled for us this morning. The neurosurgeon was just in and said he is neurologically way ahead of the curve. He is thrilled with the progress considering the severity of the damage. He said we just need to get him more medically stable, and he will be well on his way to healing. Speech therapy will come in today to try to get a small swallow study done so he can be cleared to intake some nutrients. He hasn’t eaten since Saturday, so they would like to give him something as long as he doesn’t aspirate. The fluid in his lungs sounds less; however, they are going to do an X-ray to make sure we have progress. He went from yesterday having 4L of extra fluid in his body to today having 1L extra, so it’s good progress. So far, new year, new day, new brain. It is progress in the right direction. Thank you all for all your prayers. God is in control, and we know his hand is on Ash.

As you can see, the road to recovery is going to be long with lots of uncertainty. I know a lot of friends, family, coworkers, and even those with a kind heart have called and asked how to help. Megan Cosper-Sommers and myself would like to help organize this GoFundMe on behalf of the Acker family. Ashton is an incredible child who loves his parents and those around him dearly. A parent's worst nightmare became a reality all too sudden for this family, and this is a small gesture that we as a community can give. I would like to ask that if you are unable to donate to the Acker family financially, that you keep them in your prayers. We know the miracles God can bless us with, and I truly feel God’s presence over this family. The road to recovery is very uncertain, but with our help and God’s will, we have an opportunity to help minimize a possible huge burden.

Thank you