Melinda’s Story

My son had a metabolic condition that causes him to be on a strict diet. We almost lost him when he was a couple weeks old.  It was a challenge with all the Dr appts, therapy, special foods, etc, however after the first 5 or 6 years , we felt like pros and did not think about losing him, which was a possibility of any illness or eating too much of the wrong food.  Anyway a few years ago we had his gtube removed, he was in high school doing well, then covid happened. We think him being at home disrupted his routine and caused him stress. 

Anyway, on May 3rd , he complained of ear pain, so Monday the 4th we took him to Fast Pace.  They gave him some antibiotics in case there was an infection somewhere and I had them draw his blood to check his levels. He had acted like they were elevated 2 weeks previous, but had leveled out since.  Monday and Tuesday he complained of headaches a few times, which he never did, so now I beat myself up for not taking him to the ER.

Tuesday I went to work, stopped by the house to give him Gatorade for extra fluids. He seemed weak and tired. I thought this was just another episode we were going through, like so many times before.  Around noon, I got a call that an ambulance had been called. His heart had stopped and he had had a huge nosebleed. Paramedics finally get a pulse back and take him to the hospital.  He was on life support until Thursday so they could harvest his organs for donation.  His heart had stopped and his brain hemorrhaged. His levels were normal, so we still don’t know what caused his death, the heart stopping or the brain hemorrhage.  A man in Nashville now has my sweet boy’s heart, along with 2 others that received his kidneys. One of those recepients also received his liver, which is amazing due to it being ” defective” in  his body.  His eye tissue was also used.

The first couple of weeks , I was in robot mode, taking care of everybody else’s needs. The next few months, I kept myself busy with work. Six months in, with the craziness of covid, my physical health went downhill.  We finally made it to the 1 year mark. My physical ailments are still lingering. I still have my days where I just wanna cry and cry, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I will see him again. Thank God he knew Jesus as his personal Saviour, so it is not goodbye forever.  

I still miss him terribly though. He liked music, Harry Potter, rainbows, orange and other bright colors.