Support Little James' Recovery!

Hi, my name is Molly and my husband is Paul. To our sweet 22-month-old grandson, James, I am Gigi and my husband is Abba.

On September 13, 2023, James stayed home from daycare because he had a fever. Throughout the day he had Tylenol to bring the fever down and aside from being a bit tired, James was fine. However, everything changed drastically that night. About two hours after he fell asleep, James threw up. Suddenly, he was barely breathing and unresponsive. Rushed by ambulance to Seattle Children's Hospital, for the next several days, James had multiple seizures. An MRI indicated swelling in James' brain. Five days later, to protect James’ brain, the doctors started a two-fold approach: first, they placed James in a medically induced coma and inserted a breathing tube. Secondly, they reduced James’ body temperature below normal using a machine called an Arctic Sun, which used cooling mats around his body.

For the next several days our little man rested, and we all worried. For his parents, Kristen and Bryan, this was their worst nightmare. At the same time, all of us wondered "What was happening to our little man?" who up until this point had been a happy, healthy toddler. Numerous tests were run. Results indicated James was battling three separate viral infections. An MRI showed swelling on the brain so the doctors thought he had meningitis, but this was later ruled out. After five days, we breathed a sigh of relief as they started reducing James’ sedation drugs, slowly bringing him out of the coma. Soon James would be back with us and this nightmare would be over. But this wasn’t the case. Eventually, he was awake and breathing on his own, but his eyes couldn’t focus, his muscle tone was limited, he couldn’t even lift his head and he couldn’t speak.

Since then, James has been working with several hospital care teams, including, OT, PT and Speech – averaging a total of three hours a day. He is working on holding up his head, which is getting better every day. He can eat a small amount of applesauce and/or yogurt, but no water yet.

Because of this, he had a MIC-KEY gastrointestinal feeding tube inserted. We are excited because over the last few days James has been laughing, smiling and giggling – all good signs. Overall, James is taking the initial "baby steps" on a long road to recovery.

But like recovering from a stroke, James must basically relearn everything. To date, he's accomplished several milestones: he can roll over from tummy to back, blow bubbles, and babble. He is tentatively reaching for things. His eyes are still not focusing very well, which is disconcerting, but they are much better than a week ago. Every day he gets a little stronger.

We may never know what happened. Although they ran a battery of tests from bloodwork to genetic testing, the Drs still don’t know why James’ body responded the way it did; why he had seizures. But we are grateful he is still with us.

James has been in the hospital for over a month and will probably stay another 2-3 weeks. Aside from medical costs from his lengthy hospital stay, medications and outpatient bills, James will need a lot of special equipment, therapies, and special foods for the next several months. Some of the equipment needs include: a customized stroller/wheelchair; a standing chair; feeding tube stand; adaptations for their home, such as ramps. He will also need home therapies: along with OT, PT and Speech; he’s responded very well to music therapy, so his parents are hoping to continue this as well. Additionally, they hope to start Hyperbaric 02 treatments, which have shown to be instrumental in brain injury recovery.

All donations are so very much appreciated. And if you can share our story with others, we would be so grateful!