Briar Dockers NICU Surgery & Recovery

On December 12th, 2021 at Disneyland Briar suffered a tragic and unexpected accident. We are raising money to go towards the Docker's family medical bills. Your donations will allow Briar to heal while his mom and dad are able to love on their baby Briar without any stress of how they will get the medical bills paid for. I will post the story below that his mom and dad, Lakynn and Eastin Dockers have shared with family and friends.

 

We want to share Briars story so that maybe my poor choice can save your baby’s from a horrific experience like this:

I have always been a play by the rule book mama. Having a second baby has made me more laid back and confident to make some decisions that test those limits. Just about a month ago we let Hadlee have popcorn for the first time. We all were enjoying popcorn this trip at DisneyLand so of course Briar wanted some. I let him join in knowing it was a no no but telling myself everything would be just fine, DONT do that.

Yesterday, December 12th, we were at Disneyland. Briar had a bite of popcorn in his mouth around 10am- I went to take the bucket away as we were ready for a ride and he was not happy. He sucked in to cry and inhaled the popcorn- it went down his throat. He cleared it quickly but obviously didn’t clear it all on his own. He cried and coughed for a while but we felt like it was behavioral. After about 15 minutes of not moving on I started to worry because he was still upset and not accepting any redirection. I took him off on my own and as the coughing stopped I could hear him wheezing and noticed an irregular breathing pattern starting. I watched him for about 5 more minutes before I started running for First Aid knowing in my gut something was wrong. First aid checked him over and his ox levels looked good, he had good color but she recognized the wheeze and discomfort and agreed 911 should be called. Paramedics came and looked him over and gave the same report, vitals were clear and they believed the popcorn likely scratched his throat causing discomfort and the wheeze was from crying- his breathing pattern improved the longer we sat there. I took him back to the room and watched him sleep for 3 hours. He woke up fussy and with a wheeze but a normal breathing pattern. We partied at Disneyland for a couple hours and he was great, just clingy. He fell asleep in the stroller and as soon as he started to fuss in his sleep I picked him up and noticed his breathing was labored again. I took him back to the room and as I held him sleeping his breathing looked even more labored than the morning. I called our doctor back home and she told me i needed to call 911, so I did. At this point his breathing was so labored Eastin and I began to get frantic. Paramedics arrived and loaded us on board where he got some oxygen. He was admitted immediately to the children hospital in orange county. He was rushed in at 1am (cali time) for an emergency surgery. It was determined that he had popcorn remnants stuck in both his lungs that were causing an obstructed airway. They prepared us that it was high risk but it wasn’t until the surgeon came in to talk with us that we understood how high risk it was. The surgeon made it clear that it was very likely Briar would not make it through his surgery due to his low his ox levels and anticipating that the popcorn had expanded. He wanted us to realize how serious it was and that there was great possibility Briar would not be coming back out. All we could do was cling to our baby and beg the doctors to bring him back out safe to us. It was the worst 1.5 hour of our lives as we sat there waiting and praying for a miracle.

Because of Gods glory Briar is recovering in the NICU today. He is a miracle. We were the “one in a million.” We will share with you what our surgeon shared with us…with kids in these cases many of them are brain dead before they even get to him. Do NOT give nuts, popcorn, grapes, raisins to kids under four. Thanks for the continued prayers for our boy as he continues to improve. We are so happy and thankful to be snuggling him today!