John's Medical Fund
Donation protected
John Zhuang Chen is a very happy 11 year old boy who likes school during the weekdays and Sunday school at the Church. He likes skating, biking, badminton, basketball, camping, golfing, skiing etc. He is doing very well in swimming( level 9) and piano(level 9 royal conservative). He was on the church kids choir and in church kids program since grade one. He was the top scout popcorn fund raiser in his pack for the past a few years when he was in beaver and cub scout. He loves his 14 year old brother and his parents. He had a lot of dreams in many aspects of his future life.
It was two months ago. Thing changed drastically. John Zhuang Chen had a cough, a little fever and sore throat and left leg pain on March 22nd Wednesday so he did not go to school and rested at home. On the following day his left leg pain aggravated and he could not get out of the bed. On Friday March 24th, John was carried to the family doctor since his groin and leg pain was so severe and could not walk at all. The substitute family doctor checked John and said it was a muscle injury, if pain did not go away, just took some Advil and sent him home without any testing. On Saturday March 26th, John was given some Advil after lunch since his leg pain was not getting better. John could not sleep in the midnight due to the left leg pain and sweating. So his parents took him to the BC Children’s Hospital Emergency. The diagnosis from the BC Children’s Hospital was invasive Strep A bacteria attacked his tendon and blood after the exploratory surgery and he was in aggressive operation on his four limbs immediately. The parents were assigned a waiting room close to the operation room for the following weeks. Their feelings were like the roller coaster every hour waiting for result of life or death of the operation on John. They can do nothing except signing the consent forms of operations and praying for miracle. Their pastor came to the hospital to pray for John and the youth director of the Church came to the hospital to pray for John, so many people prayed for John. John was put on life support and had kidney failure for 33 nights in ICU. With a miracle, after 18 aggressive surgeries on John’s limbs, John avoided any amputation on his limbs which is common life saving results for the similar invasive Strep A bacteria cases and his kidney revived in a month time too. He spent 2 months at BC Children’s Hospital in total and transferred to the Sunny Hill Rehab Hospital on May 26th where he started a long and tough road ahead of him and his family.
John’s life saving surgeries leave him a blood clot in his right leg which requires the heparin injection on daily basis, the big portion of his right calf muscle was taken out which limits his right foot certain lifting ability. His left leg’s scar from debriding is so long and deep which limits the mobility of the left leg. A big portion of his left triceps was taken out. His right forearm has so many scars around his tendon which limit his mobility of the fingers of the right hand. The whole back of the skin was used as the donor site for the skin craft on his four limbs. He needs to wear the full skin protection garment for the coming 2 years when the dressings on his back and limbs are no longer needed.
Neither the parents of John Zhuang Chen have any extended family member here in Canada, as a matter of fact, no parent should ever have to see their child suffer the way that John has, they are taking turns to accompany him 24 hours a day, pray for him and help him to fight his life and his recovery, they sold the car to cover some expenses. John will have to learn how to use his hands to feed himself. How to use his feet to stand and walk and how to do the things he did before in the adaptive way. Unfortunately, there is no functional muscle implant facility in Canada. John may need to have future surgeries for his muscle implant in the USA..
John Zhuang Chen went through a lot in the past two months but he is touched by mercy and grace of God. His limbs, hands and feet were saved which stunned the doctors, he feels being loved.
The family needs your support and help to provide some relief from the financial burden in this situation so that they can focus on John’s rehab and future needed surgeries. The more we can help, the quicker his progress, and the greater his mobility. Any contribution will help.
Thank you on behalf of John. John’s brother, John’s mom and John’s dad.
It was two months ago. Thing changed drastically. John Zhuang Chen had a cough, a little fever and sore throat and left leg pain on March 22nd Wednesday so he did not go to school and rested at home. On the following day his left leg pain aggravated and he could not get out of the bed. On Friday March 24th, John was carried to the family doctor since his groin and leg pain was so severe and could not walk at all. The substitute family doctor checked John and said it was a muscle injury, if pain did not go away, just took some Advil and sent him home without any testing. On Saturday March 26th, John was given some Advil after lunch since his leg pain was not getting better. John could not sleep in the midnight due to the left leg pain and sweating. So his parents took him to the BC Children’s Hospital Emergency. The diagnosis from the BC Children’s Hospital was invasive Strep A bacteria attacked his tendon and blood after the exploratory surgery and he was in aggressive operation on his four limbs immediately. The parents were assigned a waiting room close to the operation room for the following weeks. Their feelings were like the roller coaster every hour waiting for result of life or death of the operation on John. They can do nothing except signing the consent forms of operations and praying for miracle. Their pastor came to the hospital to pray for John and the youth director of the Church came to the hospital to pray for John, so many people prayed for John. John was put on life support and had kidney failure for 33 nights in ICU. With a miracle, after 18 aggressive surgeries on John’s limbs, John avoided any amputation on his limbs which is common life saving results for the similar invasive Strep A bacteria cases and his kidney revived in a month time too. He spent 2 months at BC Children’s Hospital in total and transferred to the Sunny Hill Rehab Hospital on May 26th where he started a long and tough road ahead of him and his family.
John’s life saving surgeries leave him a blood clot in his right leg which requires the heparin injection on daily basis, the big portion of his right calf muscle was taken out which limits his right foot certain lifting ability. His left leg’s scar from debriding is so long and deep which limits the mobility of the left leg. A big portion of his left triceps was taken out. His right forearm has so many scars around his tendon which limit his mobility of the fingers of the right hand. The whole back of the skin was used as the donor site for the skin craft on his four limbs. He needs to wear the full skin protection garment for the coming 2 years when the dressings on his back and limbs are no longer needed.
Neither the parents of John Zhuang Chen have any extended family member here in Canada, as a matter of fact, no parent should ever have to see their child suffer the way that John has, they are taking turns to accompany him 24 hours a day, pray for him and help him to fight his life and his recovery, they sold the car to cover some expenses. John will have to learn how to use his hands to feed himself. How to use his feet to stand and walk and how to do the things he did before in the adaptive way. Unfortunately, there is no functional muscle implant facility in Canada. John may need to have future surgeries for his muscle implant in the USA..
John Zhuang Chen went through a lot in the past two months but he is touched by mercy and grace of God. His limbs, hands and feet were saved which stunned the doctors, he feels being loved.
The family needs your support and help to provide some relief from the financial burden in this situation so that they can focus on John’s rehab and future needed surgeries. The more we can help, the quicker his progress, and the greater his mobility. Any contribution will help.
Thank you on behalf of John. John’s brother, John’s mom and John’s dad.
Organizer and beneficiary
Harris Lam
Organizer
Richmond North, BC
Sam Chen
Beneficiary