<div>We are the Penney family; Carter, sister Olivia, mom and dad - Monicka &amp; Eric. In September, Carter first got sick with a short fever and cough, which went away. Things were turning around for the better. Then he spiked a 105 fever. After an ER visit, transfer to a children's ER 40 minutes away. They sent us home. The next day the ER called us to immediately bring him back. They had found he had bacteremia, a blood infection. Going back to the local ER, they then transferred us back to the Children's Hospital. It was never discovered what the initial infection was, but it was Strep. Pneumoniae that caused the bacteremia. We were treated for 10 days of IV antibiotics. We had got lucky and caught the infection early. Carter recovered quickly, after a few days of antibiotics he was back to himself and doing well. Just trapped in the hospital room. After a few extra days away from school to recover, we all fell back into our daily routines. Two weeks later, thing were looking to be too familiar. Carter started have basic symptoms; fever &amp; cough. After a day we took him to the Children's Hospital ER. He had a parainfluenza type IV infection. X-Ray showed a little inflammation in the lungs but the doctors weren't concerned at the time. We took him home and treated with normal Tylenol and Mortin for the fever. Had a follow-up after a couple days to check on him, and told just to continue course. Then had another follow-up a couple days later. In that short span, Carter started to get much worse. At the follow-up, they direct admitted him to the hospital. X-ray showed significant pneumonia had developed. Also his blood culture came back with bacteremia again. This time with Haemophilus Influenza (this is a bacteria not a virus like regular influenza). As scary as a blood infection sounds, the pneumonia is really what is scary. Carter having trouble breathing, coughing constantly. Just miserable. Because of the pneumonia, a pleural effusion (fluid around the lung) on the left side developed. Carter was taken to the operating room to get a chest tube, a PICC (IV direct to the heart) and a feed tube. Nearly 400ml of fluid was draining from his chest. To put that in perspective, that is over 12 ounces, so more than a can of soda. We are in for at least a couple of weeks to treat the bacteremia and pneumonia. After that we'll have to do an immunological work-up to investigate why Carter is having trouble fighting off infections.
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<div>Like many people, we are struggling to just keep up on monthly bills and everyday expenses. The first hospital stay already had put us behind and with another ahead of us we are in serious trouble. We are already living paycheck to paycheck as it is and we will be missing a month of work.
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<div>We aren't asking for help to pay the exorbitant medical bills, which are already over $100,000. We are asking for help to keep is us afloat so we don't sink. Please, if you can, any amount of donation will be helpful.
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<div>Thank you and God bless.
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Anonymous

Jamen Penney

Jacob Connelly

Vanessa Castro

Phillip Penney

Peter Mozzone

Seth Penney

Sean Penney

Benjamin Hachenberg

Cynthia Drivas

Ian Penney

Raini Wagner

Michael Sachak

Peggy Millich

Betsy Barker

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