Louis, my little brother, had a tooth abscess. He was on oral antibiotics and then went to our local ER for even stronger antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.

Two days later at 3am on April 5th I was rushing him to Mercy ER. He had developed Ludwig's angina- a potentially fatal rapid tissue swelling of the neck in response to the infection that can completely close off the airway. He went into emergent surgery. The swelling was so bad that his mouth could not be opened and they had to surgically drain the abscess from his neck. The only available airway was through his nose-nasal intubation. While this was the only way to save his life at the time, a nasal airway is small and risky.

He went straight to the ICU after surgery and was sedated, paralyzed, and on a ventilator. With the small airway and risks associated, 3 days later his left lung collapsed and he became critically ill. His oxygen dropped dangerously low and this was the first of many times he almost died. A chest tube had to be placed emergently and inhaled nitrous oxide was started, in addition to max 100% oxygen on the ventilator.

Then sepsis and septic shock hit- this condition alone can have up to a 60-80% mortality rate. Louis was on a cooling pad and packed in ice and still his fever would not break. His right lung collapsed. I watched him be resuscitated multiple times.

His lungs were hit hard- he developed ARDS- Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome- this has around a 40% mortality rate by itself.

Once the swelling decreased just enough, a risky bedside oral breathing tube (in the mouth) was placed since he was too unstable to even go to the OR and the nasal tube removed.

He continued to battle sepsis and ARDS and was max sedated and paralyzed to stay in sync with the ventilator. The lower lobes of his lungs continued to collapse and the inhaled nitrous was needed just to keep his lungs open enough to be oxygenated. Louis also had pneumonia.

His oxygen continued to drop fatally low as he battled to stay alive, and eventually a tracheostomy (airway through the neck) was placed as a safer more longterm airway.

Once he became more stable, but still sedated, no one in the ICU knew if, and to what degree ,he had suffered an anoxic brain injury (oxygen deprivation to the brain) from all the times his oxygen dropped and he had to be resuscitated.

25 days later on April 30th- Louis gave me his first big smile when I walked into his room. And then I got a thumbs up a few days later.

The picture above was taken on day 31 and our last day in the ICU at Louis's request. He wanted to see what his new haircut from one of the most amazing ICU nurses looked like.

From Mercy ICU he went to Vibra's long-term acute care rehabilitation hospital. All I will say is please do not leave any family member there alone if you are ever in the position of having someone you love be a patient there. At Vibra he got MRSA pneumonia-found in a lung sputum culture after he developed a fever and high heart rate.

Despite everything, Louis continued to fight and improve. The trach came out on May 16th. He began walking, and talking, and eventually eating. By some absolute miracle, Louis is home today with just a temporary feeding tube and 100% cognitively intact and building strength every day.

We are deeply grateful for your support during this challenging time. Any donation, no matter the amount, will help cover the mounting medical expenses and aid in Louis's recovery. Your generosity and kindness mean everything to us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. While in the ICU, I heard many similar and some with even worse outcomes from tooth abscesses/infections. Above all, please share Louis's story to spread the importance of dental care and treatment, advocate for better and timely access to dental care, and hopefully prevent Louis's story from being another person's story.