Help Baby Owen And His Family!
Donation protected
On Sunday, November 8th, Owen woke up with a barking type cough. Sunday night he started having trouble breathing and he was taken straight to Bronson ER. The ER doctor diagnosed him with Croup, gave him 2 nebulizer treatments, a dose of decadron and sent him home. Tuesday night his breathing worsened. His mom and dad took him back to Bronson ER where they spent 6 hours and were sent home at 3 a.m. beacuse the Dr.'s said they couldn't do anything more to help him. Late Wednesday night, Owen spiked a fever of 102.6. Brittany took Owen to the Dr. in Sturgis on Thursday morning and they sent him over to Sturgis hospital for a stat chest x-ray and blood work. His coughing began to worsen and Brittany was advised to take him back to Bronson. On her way to Bronson from Sturgis, she looked in the back seat and Owen was crying and trying to catch his breath and his lips were turning blue. This is when Owen took a turn for the worse. Brittany quickly took him to Three Rivers ER where he at the time had only 52% oxygen. He was given oxygen right away, nebulizer treatments, and IV put in for fluids. It came to the point where they knew he needed more assistance with his breathing. They informed Brittany and Matt that Owen needed to be sedated, chemically paralyzed and a breathing tube would be placed. After he was stable, he was then transfered by ambulance to Bronson Children's Hospital. He was admitted to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit apon his arrival at Bronson.
Thursday night, the sedation started to wear off and Owen was able to move. With that movement his breathing tube popped out of his trachea and went into his esophagus which was sending all his oxygen into his stomach. Nurses and doctors rushed in right and away and Matt and Brittany had to leave the room. For that long hour they had no idea what was happening to thier baby boy. They had to put a smaller breathing tube in because his airway was so irritated and swollen.
On Friday, they finally got some answers as to what was going on. The croup that Owen had weakend his immune system, he ended up with 2 different viruses along with the croup. His test came back positive for rhinovirus and parainfluenza.
Current Status:
Owen is on 2 of the strongest antibiotics, he is on a sedative, a paralegic and a strong pain medication. He is also on 2 bowel medications and a probiotic. He has been sedated, on a feeding tube and breathing tube since Thursday, November 12th. He has also been on a ventilator that is doing ALL his breathing for him. He has respiratory nurses that come in 3 times a day to give him treatments to try and loosen up his lungs. He also has 2-3 chest X-rays a day to check his progress. Since Thursday, Owen has had over 10 chest X-rays in the past 4 days. He recently started getting fevers back but they have kept them under control with Tylenol. The doctor'a prediction today is that Owen will be hooked up to the ventilator for another 2-5 days and as long as he is on the ventilator he will be heavily sedated.
Message from Brittany:
Since this nightmare has started, Matt and I have been at his bedside every step of the way. We have not stepped out of the hospital and we have no plan to until our baby boy is in our arms going home with us. Due to us being here with him we both had to leave our jobs until he is home and healthy again. They have been very forgiving and supportive in our time of need. We would like to thank everyone also for all the love, support and prayers that our family and our Owen has been receiving. It's been a roll coaster of emotions but we can just pray that things will only get better from here.
Support:
Matt and Brittany are both off of work right now to be with Owen. They have 3 other children at home that need our help in supporting their parents in this time of need. I know the Holidays are right around the corner and money can be tight, but anything you can help with would be appreciated. Medical bills are piling up on top of everything else and with both of them being off work they could use our help! Please take a moment to pray for this family and if you are able to donate to them, it would help in many ways.
Thank you!
Thursday night, the sedation started to wear off and Owen was able to move. With that movement his breathing tube popped out of his trachea and went into his esophagus which was sending all his oxygen into his stomach. Nurses and doctors rushed in right and away and Matt and Brittany had to leave the room. For that long hour they had no idea what was happening to thier baby boy. They had to put a smaller breathing tube in because his airway was so irritated and swollen.
On Friday, they finally got some answers as to what was going on. The croup that Owen had weakend his immune system, he ended up with 2 different viruses along with the croup. His test came back positive for rhinovirus and parainfluenza.
Current Status:
Owen is on 2 of the strongest antibiotics, he is on a sedative, a paralegic and a strong pain medication. He is also on 2 bowel medications and a probiotic. He has been sedated, on a feeding tube and breathing tube since Thursday, November 12th. He has also been on a ventilator that is doing ALL his breathing for him. He has respiratory nurses that come in 3 times a day to give him treatments to try and loosen up his lungs. He also has 2-3 chest X-rays a day to check his progress. Since Thursday, Owen has had over 10 chest X-rays in the past 4 days. He recently started getting fevers back but they have kept them under control with Tylenol. The doctor'a prediction today is that Owen will be hooked up to the ventilator for another 2-5 days and as long as he is on the ventilator he will be heavily sedated.
Message from Brittany:
Since this nightmare has started, Matt and I have been at his bedside every step of the way. We have not stepped out of the hospital and we have no plan to until our baby boy is in our arms going home with us. Due to us being here with him we both had to leave our jobs until he is home and healthy again. They have been very forgiving and supportive in our time of need. We would like to thank everyone also for all the love, support and prayers that our family and our Owen has been receiving. It's been a roll coaster of emotions but we can just pray that things will only get better from here.
Support:
Matt and Brittany are both off of work right now to be with Owen. They have 3 other children at home that need our help in supporting their parents in this time of need. I know the Holidays are right around the corner and money can be tight, but anything you can help with would be appreciated. Medical bills are piling up on top of everything else and with both of them being off work they could use our help! Please take a moment to pray for this family and if you are able to donate to them, it would help in many ways.
Thank you!
Organizer and beneficiary
Kendra Sue
Organizer
Three Rivers, MI
Brittany Hartzell
Beneficiary