Help Julius Recover from Near-Fatal Drowning Incident

My name is Anthony Ellazar. My sister Jowenna Ellazar and brother-in-law Shane Mageo almost lost their 2-year-old son, Julius. On Saturday, September 28 he was found face down, unresponsive in our family home pool. With my dad and Shane's quick thinking, they pulled him out of the water, performed CPR and immediately called 911. Police cars, Firetrucks and an ambulance pulled up to our house within 5-10 minutes of the incident. Doctors think he might have been without oxygen for about 10 minutes. This was truly just an accident, as we were just getting ready for Julius’ younger brothers first birthday dinner that evening. We were all distraught, as this broke my whole family's world.

The first MRI scans showed some damage. Then we had to wait for the next MRI scan which showed more damage than we realized, and this broke my sister. Doctors asked if we wanted to let him be comfortable or do all we can to help him to live. My sister was torn between doing everything we can but also realizing what kind of quality of life he may have, or letting him be as comfortable as possible. He might live, but he might be in a wheelchair or bed for the rest of his life. He would have to watch his 3 siblings run, laugh and have fun all while he may never get to do all those things. I know the doctors are doing their all with him, but we thought those were all our options.

Eventually, after reading a few articles and studies, we came across a story where another 2-year-old girl had drowned and been revived with severe brain damage (and eventually almost 100% cured), a story similar to my nephew. We read there's a place in New Orleans that does Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments (HBOT) with positive results to helping others with brain or tissue damage.

The next step in my nephew's treatment is to determine if he needs surgery to place a trache. He is still on the ventilator and fighting for his life. We have more hope to get him strong to discharge and see Dr. Harch so they do can HBOT. This will place my sister and brother-in-law to be in New Orleans for about 2 months while doing these treatments. My sister and brother-in-law will also be losing work to care for their son. They have 3 other kids whom my parents and I, along with my wife will help to care for in the meantime. Their hospital bill is already building up and I just want to help them during this tough time.

I am starting this fundraiser to help my family get our Julius back home and to his normal happy self. We know that during this devastating time, when we thought there was no other answer, somehow found our answers we were searching for. We hope to spread awareness this HBOT procedure is something others can try. According to their website, HBOT can help people with dementia, autism, bell's palsy, drowning and anoxic brain injuries, migraines, stroke and many more. If it was available at our local hospital, I know the doctors would have offered this procedure and we wouldn’t have to be flying out to New Orleans. But I am just grateful for learning about this and having an opportunity to try to help my nephew.