Support Christopher, Lisa and their family's medical journey

On November 18th, 2024, Christopher Douglas, who was 14 months old, went to bed a happy and healthy baby boy with no illness or signs of anything wrong. When his mom, Lisa Keogh, tried to wake him up the next morning, she realized that something was terribly wrong. His eyes were open but he was staring right through her and not responding to her voice. At first, she thought maybe he was just sleepy, but then her instincts kicked in that something was not right at all. Lisa called the ambulance and they arrived at their house minutes later. He was taken to their local hospital in Orillia. Upon much assessment, a few hours later, they prepared for a team from Sick Kids Hospital to come and transport him to their hospital in Toronto.

Christopher was heavily sedated, essentially in a medically induced coma for nine days, attached to a breathing tube, as they performed many tests over and over again producing no conclusive results. He was having multiple seizures a day, many happening only half an hour apart from each other with no prior seizures ever witnessed in his life before this time. He was taken off sedation where he briefly opened his eyes and provided some hope to all. He knew we were there when we were in his room. He was also taken off the breathing tube a day or two after being taken off the heavy sedation. Since this time, he has had difficulty breathing on his own and is not aware of anyone in the room and has not really opened his eyes since the first time when taken off sedation. He continues to go through testing and is currently awaiting genetic testing to come back hopefully with some answers. Although the seizures had not happened for a few days, they have unfortunately returned as well.

The doctors have told Lisa that they will be at the Hospital for Sick Children for several weeks and would not be home for Christmas. Lisa has been at the hospital with Christopher the entire time and has fortunately been given a place to stay overnight at the Ronald McDonald house near the hospital as her home is two hours away from the hospital where Christopher is being treated.

Lisa is a single mother of four children. Her children are 17, 14, 9 and Christopher is now 15 months old. Her extended family are assisting her in taking care of her home and the other children while she is away. Lisa is self-employed and unfortunately currently has no income coming in to take care of her household bills or to provide essential needs as well as not being able to provide Christmas for her children as she has been by Christopher's side the entire time.

This GoFundMe account was created as many people have reached out as to how they can help and we are extremely grateful to all who have and have expressed the desire to do so. Words cannot express our sincerest gratitude in helping to ease the financial and emotional stress that comes with this terrible journey Christopher, Lisa and their entire family has gone through while everyone searches and hopes for answers so that a proper treatment plan can be sought to help Christopher regain a happy, healthy life. Thank you for your generosity and thank you for sharing Christopher's story.