Please help Desmond and Ryan

Hi. My name is Shannon and pictured above is my brother, Ryan, and my nephew, Desmond. I am starting this fundraiser on behalf of them because my 15-year-old nephew has been in and out of the hospital since February 2021 with what doctors’ thought was pneumonia and abdominal pain; however, it’s much more serious than that. He is now in the ICU at Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center fighting for his life.

The doctors believe now that he has a rare autoimmune vasculitis disease, which he will battle the rest of his life. They think he may have gotten asymptomatic Covid-19, which triggered latent genes of the disease. They confirmed that they have seen this type of disease in some children and adults that have had Covid-19.

My brother, Ryan, has spent day and night with a team of physicians from rheumatology, pulmonology, infectious disease and nephrology. They have discussed a timeline of symptoms and previous treatments. The team have done extensive testing and are working tirelessly to come up with a definitive diagnosis and to develop a plan of treatment.

Here is what has been happening…

1. Desmond started having issues in February 2021

2. Prior to February, he quarantined several times for possible exposure to COVID-19 from classmates

3. Each time his swab tests came back negative

4. His symptoms started with abdominal pain

5. He had numerous doctor’s appointments and was given antibiotics each time

6. The beginning of June, Desmond received his first COVID-19 vaccine

7. Three days later he was in serious pain and found to have blood in his urine

8. He was taken to Patient First and was referred to a Urologist, who prescribed more antibiotics

9. The end of June, he received his second Covid-19 shot

10. Four days after his 2nd vaccine, he started to get worse - fast

11. He started coughing up blood and was in excruciating pain

12. He was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and given more antibiotics

13. Desmond’s health has progressively deteriorated after being wrongly diagnosed and treated for almost a year

14. Desmond was taken to the emergency department on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, as he was coughing up blood again.

15. After waiting nine hours, he was finally seen in the ED where physicians found that his lungs and kidneys were extremely inflamed and bleeding

16. He continued to deteriorate and was flown by helicopter to Hershey Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit

 

We don’t know how long Desmond will be in the hospital this time. He is not out of the woods. He will require lifelong treatment and evaluation. The funds donated will go to the tremendous costs incurred during the past 8+ months of hospitalizations, testing, medications and misdiagnoses. It will also go to defray the cost of preventing kidney disease/failure and lung trauma, without which could result in organ failure and the need for transplant.

 

We appreciate any help you can give and would ask that you please share this with others, if possible. Thank you and God Bless.