Supporting Peyton McCaughey

By now, many of you know about the tragic situation our family faces and have asked how you can help. Until now we didn’t know what help we would need; but, as time goes by, it is apparent that financial support is the best way our family and friends can participate in Peyton’s recovery.

It takes both parents and grandparents to be with him Peyton 24 hours a day, and the absence of income will soon become a big problem. The funds raised will be used for family expenses such as travel, hotels, food, lost time at work, and other needs.

We have witnessed the incredible generosity of our community in response to crises like this. We never expected to be on this side of it. Yet, here we are, asking for you to replicate that generosity again, by contributing whatever amount you can to help ensure that Peyton has the resources necessary for the best chance of recovery. He may never be able to play on a field or court again, but our hope is to get him back on his own feet and to school, no matter how long it takes.

Gifts of any size are appreciated. If you unable to give, please continue to keep Peyton and family in your thoughts and prayers. 

Our family requests that you please respect Carl’s and Lori’s privacy at this time. They currently spend every waking moment caring for Peyton and are emotionally exhausted. Direct contact via text, email, and especially phone calls takes energy from them that they need for Peyton. All questions, concerns, thoughts, prayers, and other communications should be directed to a family member. We will pass all the well wishes to Carl and Lori while they focus on Peyton’s care.

Thanks to all our friends for the support you have shown. Please share our request for help with anyone you wish.

For those that don’t know the details, below is a summary of what has happened.

Carl, Lori, and family were cleared to return to their home after it was tented and treated for termites. However, within a few hours of returning home, they became ill. Everyone recovered except their son, 9 year old Peyton. He began to lose his ability to stand on his own and speak. Suspecting that he was poisoned by the termite treatment chemicals, Peyton was rushed to St. Mary’s where he spent the next 10 days in ICU. Peyton has recently been transferred to a children’s hospital further from home where specialists can give him better care. He has finally come out of ICU, but remains hospitalized.

The part of Peyton’s brain that controls motor skills has been negatively affected. At first, we were hopeful it was only swelling. A recent MRI suggests there is brain damage. He is unable to control his limbs. He has uncontrollable twitching and flopping. He is unable to feed himself, but his appetite is improving. His speech is severely compromised. Even though he knows what he wants to say, he cannot control his muscles to speak the words. At times, he becomes very frustrated.

There is hope, however. He seems to have retained his personality and cognitive skills. Being young, he may be able to reroute the messages through other parts of his brain to regain some of his motor skills. But, he has to relearn them through a lengthy process consisting of daily physical and occupational therapy. It has become apparent that it will be much longer than weeks; but, hopefully it will be months, not years, of recovery time. We don’t know if recovery means 10% better, 90% better, or somewhere in between. It is unknown how long he will be in therapy. What we do know is that he is unlikely to return home for a long time.

Thanks to everyone for the support and concern that we have received.