Prayers for Justin Swett

Our buddy, Justin Swett, is fighting a battle that no child should have to fight - the fight against Epilepsy. He is currently at Detroit Children’s Hospital fighting for his life. He is scheduled to have major brain surgery (Corpus Callosotomy) on 2/6/24.

Justin is a 12 year old boy that has a rare form of Epilepsy, Severe Autism, Severe Cognitive Impairment, and a rare Cask Gene Mutation with Mosaicism. And overall one of the sweetest humans on the planet. One of those kids you instantly fall in love with.

So, how did he get here? I’m Justin’s work Auntie. I work with his mama. Back in early November, she texted us and asked us to pray for Justin because he was having upwards to 60 plus seizures an hour, and on November 5th, he was admitted to Detroit Children’s Hospital. At that time, the doctors were leaning towards a probable diagnosis of Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and put him on new meds to help decrease seizures. He tried different medications and was able to go home. Justin was able to go back to school, one of his favorite places, and was voted Homecoming King.

On November 21st, Justin headed back to Detroit Children’s Hospital for another stay for developing new seizures with complications. And the following day his seizures stopped, and doctors determined he had a condition called dyskinesia that links with his CASK gene mutation. There was talk of a feeding tube to help build his strength back. On Dec 1st, he had surgery for his feeding tube, and it went well.

Over the next few weeks, he was building up strength and feeling better. Seizures were decreasing, giving him a much needed break just in time for Christmas. It was the miracle their family needed.

Then, this past Wednesday 1/31/24, Justin was admitted to Detroit Children’s Hospital again with emergent needs. He developed a new seizure type that appeared to be Grand Mal, but was newly diagnosed as another form of very rare, life-threatening atonic seizures with life and death implications. He was clustering very severe with a possible infection in brain, impacting vitals and oxygen. He is currently fighting for his life as he awaits his pending surgery.

We have started this Go Fund Me account to ease the burden of his parents, Aaron and Krissy. Aaron is a teacher and Krissy is a social worker. Both have spent the last 2 decades pouring into our community. Justin is a big brother to his 10 year-old sister, Makalynn, a proud Davison Cardinal. Over the next days, weeks, and months ahead they will need to be at countless doctor appointments after his surgery, and his current hospitalization and rehabilitation. As you can imagine, the normal costs of every day living...such as mortgage, food, gas, car, etc...plus astronomical medical costs with hospital stays along with brain surgery are incredibly overwhelming.