Liam’s AVM fight
Donation protected
On August 21, 2020 the Uyeda family, recently experienced a very scary medical situation with their 5-year-old son Liam, who needed immediate brain surgery and need our help as they continue their recovery.
Prior to Liam experiencing this unforeseen medical emergency, Liam was preparing to enter kindergarten at Kaelepulu Elementary school. He was an active and full of life 5-year-old, who had a sense of humor, enjoyed learning jujitsu, playing the ukulele, riding his bike and actually had just graduated to being able to ride his bike without the training wheels. He enjoyed swimming and playing with family and friends and looked forward to learning how to golf.
During that unexpected day, late in the afternoon, Liam complained to his dad Scott that his head hurt while his mom Jina was out. Initially, they thought that it was due to Liam having experienced a long day of testing as Liam was preparing to start kindergarten. However, not too soon after, Liam began to vomit and wanted to go to the Dr, which is unusual for Liam. His dad quickly called the ambulance and contacted Jina to let her know that something was not right and that he had called the ambulance. Liam was quickly taken by ambulance and during that time had said that he could not move his left side of his body. By the time that Jina arrived at Kapiolani ER Liam had lost consciousness.
Liam was admitted to the pediatric ICU and immediately went into surgery for an aneurysm that they had found in right frontal lobe of his brain. He was put into a medically induce coma as they waited for the swelling, his blood pressure, and fever to stabilize so that the Drs could then do another surgery to address the aneurysm. The Drs planned to do another surgery on Liam to address the aneurysm on August 24th however, after doing an angiogram they found that the aneurysm had clotted itself and that they did not need to do the surgery to address it and told Jina and Scott that they were really lucky that it clotted itself as the aneurysm was located in the middle of his brain. The next step towards Liam recovering is to wait for his brain to heal so that they can then treat the arteriovenous malformation (AVM) with radiation which they will not be able to do for a few months and Liam will need to have another surgery to put his skull back, followed by therapy as they, at the time did not know what the extent of the damage the AVM had caused. On August 25th, Liam had an MRI and MRA testing and they received the news that the tests showed that aneurysm still showed itself as being clotted and fluid buildup around outside of the right side of his brain, which was good news as the Drs could then start waking Liam up from his medically induced coma and will need to continue to monitor him at the hospital. Since being taken out of his medically induced coma, it took Liam several days before he started to show signs of responsiveness and then started his rehabilitation treatment. Since then Liam has had numerous MRI and MRA testing done to check on the status of the area of where the aneurysm was as well as the area that the AVM is in that caused the aneurysm. Liam was later moved to the pediatric floor on September 1st.
Liam needed to go through physical therapy as he needed to re-learn how to use his muscles again to sit up, toileting, and to walk. He also needed to have occupational therapy to regain his fine motor skills as well as speech therapy to re-learn how to talk, form sentences, and regain his short-term memory. Liam has made lots of improvement as he is now able to walk with assistance for short distances and is able to carry a conversation with his family and friends. On September 24th, Liam had another MRI testing to check the status of the fluid around Liam’s right side of his brain and it was found that the amount of fluid had increased since his last test however, the Drs informed them that at this time they do not find this concerning as long as his progress is not hindered and he doesn’t complain of experiencing any pain. They explained that the fluid build-up might just be due to the skull cap not covering that part of his brain. They did say though that if the fluid does not dissipate after putting back his skull that Liam would then need to have a stint placed there to drain the fluid. With the amount of progress Liam was showing, he was able to be discharged on September 25thafter being at Kapiolani for a total of five weeks. Jina and Scott were informed by the Drs that they would need to make a decision within the next two weeks as to what route they would want to take to have the AVM addressed. The two options that they were given are either to have it addressed by doing surgery or to have it done by radiation. There is a possibility that Liam may need to get his treatment on the mainland as they look for a specialist who specializes in pediatric AVM. Liam continues to need to go to physical, occupational, and speech therapy daily as he continues to work hard to regain the skills, he loss since his medical event. Everyday Liam makes leaps and bounds of improvements as he continually pushes himself.
As Jina and Scott decide on the best possible plan of action for Liam moving forward, we would like to support the Uyeda’s by fundraising to help offset their growing medical expenses so that they can continue to just focus on Liam’s recovery. If you are able to help in any amount, the Uyeda’s are very appreciative and are grateful of the outpouring of support and love that they have already received and look forward in sharing Liam’s progress as he continues his journey to recovery. Please continue to keep Liam in your thoughts and prayers as Jina and Scott both believe that all of the positive energy and prayers Liam has been receiving from everyone has been helping him to find ways to pull through these challenges.
Prior to Liam experiencing this unforeseen medical emergency, Liam was preparing to enter kindergarten at Kaelepulu Elementary school. He was an active and full of life 5-year-old, who had a sense of humor, enjoyed learning jujitsu, playing the ukulele, riding his bike and actually had just graduated to being able to ride his bike without the training wheels. He enjoyed swimming and playing with family and friends and looked forward to learning how to golf.
During that unexpected day, late in the afternoon, Liam complained to his dad Scott that his head hurt while his mom Jina was out. Initially, they thought that it was due to Liam having experienced a long day of testing as Liam was preparing to start kindergarten. However, not too soon after, Liam began to vomit and wanted to go to the Dr, which is unusual for Liam. His dad quickly called the ambulance and contacted Jina to let her know that something was not right and that he had called the ambulance. Liam was quickly taken by ambulance and during that time had said that he could not move his left side of his body. By the time that Jina arrived at Kapiolani ER Liam had lost consciousness.
Liam was admitted to the pediatric ICU and immediately went into surgery for an aneurysm that they had found in right frontal lobe of his brain. He was put into a medically induce coma as they waited for the swelling, his blood pressure, and fever to stabilize so that the Drs could then do another surgery to address the aneurysm. The Drs planned to do another surgery on Liam to address the aneurysm on August 24th however, after doing an angiogram they found that the aneurysm had clotted itself and that they did not need to do the surgery to address it and told Jina and Scott that they were really lucky that it clotted itself as the aneurysm was located in the middle of his brain. The next step towards Liam recovering is to wait for his brain to heal so that they can then treat the arteriovenous malformation (AVM) with radiation which they will not be able to do for a few months and Liam will need to have another surgery to put his skull back, followed by therapy as they, at the time did not know what the extent of the damage the AVM had caused. On August 25th, Liam had an MRI and MRA testing and they received the news that the tests showed that aneurysm still showed itself as being clotted and fluid buildup around outside of the right side of his brain, which was good news as the Drs could then start waking Liam up from his medically induced coma and will need to continue to monitor him at the hospital. Since being taken out of his medically induced coma, it took Liam several days before he started to show signs of responsiveness and then started his rehabilitation treatment. Since then Liam has had numerous MRI and MRA testing done to check on the status of the area of where the aneurysm was as well as the area that the AVM is in that caused the aneurysm. Liam was later moved to the pediatric floor on September 1st.
Liam needed to go through physical therapy as he needed to re-learn how to use his muscles again to sit up, toileting, and to walk. He also needed to have occupational therapy to regain his fine motor skills as well as speech therapy to re-learn how to talk, form sentences, and regain his short-term memory. Liam has made lots of improvement as he is now able to walk with assistance for short distances and is able to carry a conversation with his family and friends. On September 24th, Liam had another MRI testing to check the status of the fluid around Liam’s right side of his brain and it was found that the amount of fluid had increased since his last test however, the Drs informed them that at this time they do not find this concerning as long as his progress is not hindered and he doesn’t complain of experiencing any pain. They explained that the fluid build-up might just be due to the skull cap not covering that part of his brain. They did say though that if the fluid does not dissipate after putting back his skull that Liam would then need to have a stint placed there to drain the fluid. With the amount of progress Liam was showing, he was able to be discharged on September 25thafter being at Kapiolani for a total of five weeks. Jina and Scott were informed by the Drs that they would need to make a decision within the next two weeks as to what route they would want to take to have the AVM addressed. The two options that they were given are either to have it addressed by doing surgery or to have it done by radiation. There is a possibility that Liam may need to get his treatment on the mainland as they look for a specialist who specializes in pediatric AVM. Liam continues to need to go to physical, occupational, and speech therapy daily as he continues to work hard to regain the skills, he loss since his medical event. Everyday Liam makes leaps and bounds of improvements as he continually pushes himself.
As Jina and Scott decide on the best possible plan of action for Liam moving forward, we would like to support the Uyeda’s by fundraising to help offset their growing medical expenses so that they can continue to just focus on Liam’s recovery. If you are able to help in any amount, the Uyeda’s are very appreciative and are grateful of the outpouring of support and love that they have already received and look forward in sharing Liam’s progress as he continues his journey to recovery. Please continue to keep Liam in your thoughts and prayers as Jina and Scott both believe that all of the positive energy and prayers Liam has been receiving from everyone has been helping him to find ways to pull through these challenges.
Organizer and beneficiary
Maris Naks Kamada
Organizer
Honolulu, HI
Jina Uyeda
Beneficiary