Ada G.

Late in the day on March 14, 2018, our little 2 yr old, Ada got a fever and began throwing up. We gave her Tylenol and Pedialyte that night and took her to her PCP early the next morning. The doctor said there was a little stomach bug going around and prescribed Zofran and said come back in 48 hrs if it persisted.

2 days later as we prepared to take her back in, she had a febrile seizure. We called 911 and they transported her to the local hospital. In the ED they had difficulty drawing blood, her pulse was 180+ and her bp was 60/30. They recognized it as septic shock but she went into DIC and her extremities began turning black and she also went into ARDS. (Sepsis and Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation, Sepsis and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) They intubated her and flew her down to Rady Children’s. She was admitted to the PICU and was placed on CRRT. She was in PICU for 68 days and then transferred down onto med/surg unit. She made 3 return trips back into the PICU for her stroke, encephalitis and another bout of sepsis. She was taken off dialysis but then suffered a massive ischemic stroke with put her back in the PICU. After 21 days she went down to the floor and was immediately struck with encephalitis which put her back in PICU. After 2 weeks sent back down to the floor and then got a PICC line infection which led to another bout of sepsis which finally knocked her kidneys out. (Sepsis and Invasive Devices) She had all toes and 8 fingertips amputated and is currently waiting on a kidney transplant. (Sepsis and Amputations, Sepsis and Kidney Transplants) All together she was hospitalized 164 days.

Ada is currently receiving PT/OT and speech therapy. This was all caused by haemophilus influenzae a, which got into her blood stream due to her being born with polysplenia, unbeknownst to everyone. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System) Ada is a fighter and is making strides in recovery everyday. She is now 3 1/2 and has not been hospitalized again other than for a dialysis malfunction, but otherwise is healthy and recovering. She just received a kidney transplant yesterday and is recovering well and looking forward to enjoying life again.

Source: Hugh G., Parent