Baby Austin fight Bacterial Meningitis

This is our beautiful 8 month old, Austin.

He was diagnosed with Pneumococcal Bacterial Meningitis in May 2022.

Austin was taken to the hospital via ambulance after having a seizure at home, however was ultimately sent home the following day with a diagnosis of ‘a virus that needed to run its course’. With no improvement and another turn, he was taken back to the hospital and an ambulance was called to immediately to transfer him to Perth Children’s Hospital for suspected Bacterial Meningitis.

Austin has since had several procedures and a brain surgery to drain as much infection as possible, was put on strong IV antibiotics and heavily sedated for recovery. After a few weeks, he was showing enough improvement that he was able to be moved out of the ICU.

Unfortunately, despite being on preventative medication, Austin suffered a stroke, multiple seizures, bleed on the brain and now following his recent surgery which has left him with permanent injury to the front of his brain resulting in restricted use of his right side.

The future is unclear at the moment – Austin is still in critical care at Perth Children's Hospital and will need to remain in a hospital setting, with experts waiting to see how how he continues to respond to treatment.

Bec, Linton (and family) are spending as much time as possible at the hospital with Austin, which limits their ability to work. In addition to caring for an infant in the hospital, they are still managing to spend time with their 3 year old daughter Isla, who must remain at home and cannot visit her baby brother.

The costs of spending this much time in the hospital as well as traveling back and forth from their home in Mandurah (over 70km from the hospital), to give Isla some much needed time with mum and dad are adding up quickly.

Any help is very much appreciated to assist their family during this difficult time. This account is set up to help Austin and his family cover costs for therapies, medications, EEG testing, MRI imaging, emergency visits, hospital and PICU stays, deductible costs, testing, and anything else Austin may need through out his lifetime. 

Thank you!