Let’s help Daniel: A series of unfortunate events

I am writing to wholeheartedly ask for your help and support for my brother. Daniel just had his 29th birthday a couple days ago at the hospital. It has been a couple of hard endless weeks for all of us, and it has been devastating seen him fight for his life this year. He has been in critical care and ICU for three months. If you have met Daniel, you know he is always smiling. He has the biggest heart and has a full life ahead of him. He has shown so much resiliency, even the nurses and doctors admire how strong he has been through it all. It is truly a miracle he is alive, and we are praying for his recovery after having six surgeries that left him in a coma.

We are grateful for every donation no matter the amount as it will help make a difference.

 

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How it started: A bad gut feeling

Daniel was admitted to NCH hospital on January 24th following acute stomach pain. No one in my family were allowed to visit him because of restricted protocols. Daniel was connected to an endogastric suction vacuum and there was a backflow of acids and air to his stomach which led to an emergency abdominal surgery on January 28th. He lost part of his intestine and had an infection from surgery, lost more than 20lbs of weight but was finally discharged on February 9th.

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The nightmare

Three long days later at home Daniel was on the verge of collapse, his body was giving up on him and he almost did not make it back to the hospital. My mom used all her strength and might to carry Daniel and kept him alive during the car ride to the ER. She rushed him to a different hospital this time, and they attended to his needs immediately. He was heavily dehydrated and was close to having a heart attack. Daniel was very weak and underweight; his heart was struggling, and his vitals were extremely low. They discover Daniel had a sepsis, (major bloodstream infection) and had to perform a high-risk emergency surgery on February 14th. He had an evisceration and they found he had two holes in his intestine that were leaking to his peritoneum. Five hours after surgery, he was placed in ICU, and we thought the worse had come to pass. Two days later we celebrated his birthday and that he survived.

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Third one was not a charm

 

The infection continued, even though he was receiving five of the highest spectrum antibiotics and we received bad news again that Daniel needed another emergency surgery on the 18th. Once again, we feared for his life. This was his third surgery in less than a month, but it was the only option we had. Daniel went into general anesthesia for a third time, and we prayed it was the last time. We did not know if he was going to make it through. They connected him to a central venous catheter (direct line to his heart) and gave him a blood transfusion. He came back to ICU connected to more than ten different IVs, a catheter, oxygen and an endogastric suction vacuum. I don’t know how he managed to still smile with all the pain, perhaps he did not want to us to cry anymore. All we could do was hold his hands. We thought the nightmare was over, but four days of recovery led to acid filtering in one of his drains and heartbreakingly another unforeseen surgical procedure on February 23rd. Even the doctors told us to pray for them that day because it was too high risk. We are sure God spared my brother and was with the doctors that day, the surgery was successful and he came out with an ileostomy. 

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How is going: Making the best of a bad deal

Daniel is maintaining a positive attitude and is doing physiotherapy. He is finally able to get out of bed and walk a little bit. They finally started his diet a couple days ago, which he was very excited about after not eating any food for a month. Recovery is slow, his body used up all of his reserves and muscle tissue to survive through all the procedures. Daniel is 5.7” and currently under 70 pounds. He is severely underweight, but the infection is finally controlled, and he is down to only two antibiotics. Daniel’s life is on a thin line and with your help and generosity, we hope to lessen the financial burden that will come from all the medical bills. The doctors give us hope that he will be discharged into hospice in a couple weeks and will need parenteral nutrition for at least three months to aid his body recover. He will have to go back to the surgical room in a couple of months after his body is strong enough for a fifth surgery.

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A Summer of whirlwind heartbreaking downturns

After recovering at home for almost four months, Daniel gained back all of his weight and health and was ready for his ileostomy reversal. Unfortunately, he got an infection on the intravenous catheter in his arm where he get his nutrition from. We took him to the ER on June 12th and they started an antibiotic (antimicotic) treatment for the blood infection. Four days later, on June 16, the surgeon decided to take him into the operating room to reverse his ileostomy and reconnect his small intestine. It was supposed to be a very simple procedure, but after the surgery Daniel started feeling unwell and his vitals got very unstable. They decided to induce a coma to stabilize him on June 18. It was a nightmare to see him getting intubated and the surgeon decided to take him once more for the fifth time! into surgery to see what was going on. She did a new evisceration, said she did not find any leaks or anything wrong, everything was healing well but decided to give him a new ileostomy regardless! :(

We visited Daniel everyday while he was in coma, with so many medicines and complications from it. One of his lungs started collapsing and they put a chest tube to drain it out. Our hearts were shattered but we remained hopeful. It has been the most difficult month of our lives.

After ten days, Daniel was successfully extubated and we were so glad to see God’s life miracle. We could talk again and see his eyes. He was in critical ICU for a long while and we remain in the hospital until today, waiting to solve various diligences to be able to get him the proper nurse home care he needs so he can be discharged, and once more, start his recovery at home.

 

We would be eternally grateful for anything you can give to assist with the costs for his recovery. The cost for a daily stay at ICU is $3,699 USD on average, which does not include surgical costs, nursing care, and physiotherapy.

All the proceedings from the fundraising will be used to cover the medical bills, and the future nurse care and parenteral (IV) nutrition, which the doctor anticipates will be needed for at least three months. Thank you for your contributions and for helping us share. ♥