Alison Breitenbach

Survivor

My daughter Alison Breitenbach was a senior in high school when she had a urinary tract infection that was misdiagnosed before leaving for a school trip to compete in a Model UN competition at University of Pennsylvania. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections)
When Alison arrived home from the trip she had 104.9 fever, vomiting, disorientation and a BP of 70/40. Her pediatrician did NOT know the symptoms of sepsis and assumed she had the flu since it was January. I decide to take Alison to Maria Ferrari Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York, a level one trauma center. We drove to the hospital not realizing how critical Alison’s situation had become.
Thankfully, the hospital realized Alison was in septic shock and within minutes had a trauma team of six medical professionals working to save her life. She was in critical condition and spent four days in ICU followed by AlisonBanother four days in a regular pediatric unit. On the first morning in ICU one of her doctors assumed Alison was asleep and told me we had almost lost her the day before. She began to cry (as did her mother)

The next four months were filled with antibiotics, additional medical testing, doctors visits and dealing with the onset of PTSD. (Sepsis and PTSD) Alison wasn’t able to go back to school but managed to complete her senior year and join her classmates for the prom and graduation.

Alison attempted to continue her education and left for college seven months post-sepsis. She spent more time in the student medical clinic and local ERs before returning home on a medical leave. Alison is continuing to take classes at our localcommunity college and continues to battle recurring UTIs, chronic strep and PTSD.alison_b_2Alison_3

Source: by Laura Breitenbach (Alison's mother)

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