Emmett’s Journey

Hi my name is Alyssa, I am Emmett’s auntie. I am starting a go fund me to help support our little guys journey!

Last week, Shelby and Mitch noticed Emmett was starting to get a little cough, but nothing serious they couldn’t handle at home. On Monday, February 5, Emmett was starting to really struggle with his coughing and started having difficulty sleeping. That night Shelby decided she’d take him to his primary the next day. Tuesday morning she took him in to see the doctor where his oxygen was 100%, but noticed his a like extra effort breathing and was prescribed nebulizer treatments for every two hours. Doc said call back in the morning. Unfortunately, Emmett was getting worse by Wednesday morning. At a follow up in clinic, his oxygen was at 94% and after testing, he was confirmed with RSV. Orders were to continue to keep him hydrated, administer saline, get him rest and to follow up the next day. By evening time, it was decided he needed to be seen immediately and was taken to Trinity ER.

At 6pm, he was checked in, processed and roomed quickly with a large care team to get answers. Ultimately, he was struggling too much and it was decided he would need a PICU and Trinity doesn’t offer that. Sanford of Fargo took the call and accepted Emmett as a patient, and sent their flight team around 9pm. North Dakota weather had other ideas, and it stopped their flight team from landing in Minot. Next option! Sanford of Bismarck accepted Emmett, but it needed to be consulted with local ambulance if the roads would be good to drive. Again, North Dakota said no. For everyone’s safety, no one was given the ok to drive. However, whether by plane or ambulance, one thing was clear: Emmett needed to be intubated. At 12am, with a couple handfuls of people (and excellent steady hands) he was intubated and made stable until roads or skies cleared.

Come 11am, Fargo flight team made the decision to pick up a respiratory therapist in Bismarck and head to Minot to pick up Emmett. Their team arrived, communicated orders and transferred Emmett to the airport and he got his first plane ride! They made it to Bismarck by 3pm and that team got to work!

Dr. Minso directed Emmett’s care via phone while at Trinity and was waiting for him to arrive. She and her team got meds changed, tubes switched, and restabilized him in a few hours. While they are thankful Trinity did all they could with what they had, they’re immensely grateful to be in Bismarck at a children’s specialty PICU. Now begins the long journey back to getting Emmett home!

This is a scary and hard time for Mitch and Shelby to see their boy so vulnerable. Sister Reagan is also missing her mom, dad, and brother. Mitch and Shelby would never ask for any help but with medical bills, hotels, food, and travel anything would help them so they can stay with and put all their focus on our sweet Emmett. If you feel like donating to them or even send added prayers to this family during such a scary and difficult time they would be forever grateful. They have a long road journey ahead of them and any support would be such a blessing to them.