The mother of a 2-year-old boy has revealed the horrifying story of her son ending up on life support after they tested positive for COVID-19.
Makayla Hunziker, who is from Oklahoma, USA, said that Grayson, her son, has been through a medical nightmare ever since he was just 1 month old.
Grayson has Diabetes Insipidus and has a hard time holding fluid inside his body, which means that he is constantly urinating.
He also has Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia, Schizencephaly, seizure disorder, Hypothyroidism, Adrenal Insufficiency, Panhypopituitarism, Septo Optic Dysplasia, Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, and blindness.
His mother, a 22-year-old peadtric nurse, has been attending appointments after appointments.
The sad thing is that this year, her son Grayson tested positive for the coronavirus.
He had started off with no symptoms, which led to mild cough and then high fever along with severe cough.
During an interview with DailyStar, she said:
The wheezing was getting worse but it was really strange because it was off and on. One minute he was happy playing and then the next two hours he was struggling to breathe. I went to work and his grandma called to say he now had a fever. I talked to one of my colleagues and they said to bring him in. They swapped him for Covid-19 and it came back positive. I was just in complete denial about the whole situation. No one in the family had covid so we are not sure how Grayson caught it.
Despite being positive, the entire family of Grayson came together.
His grandmother and even great-grandmother did not leave his side and made sure that he was being taken cared for.
After some time, his condition worsened, and he was admitted to the PICU unit at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis in Oklahoma.
His 22-year-old mother was with him through the entire battle.
At one point, the doctors told Makayla that Grayson would be placed on a ventilator.
Recalling the moment, Makayla said that she was eating breakfast when the doctors called her.
She went on:
The doctor called and said you need to come back to the hospital. They said we need you to come and make some decisions regarding Grayson. The doctor said he had coded (emergency requiring resuscitation) and I remember being like what?
During the treatment, Grayson suffered a collapsed lung as he was being intubated.
His breathing also stopped twice.
Recalling the moment, Makayla said:
There was blood everywhere. It was the first time Tyler (his dad) had seen him and his voice was breaking as ‘he asked what are they doing to him?’ Grayson just did not look right. In the short time we had been away, his body had just swelled up. I was listening to everything they had to say but at the moment I could not take any of it in. They said we had to make a decision but I really did not know what we were making. I was just stood staring as the option was putting him on life support or letting him die.
After that, Grayson was placed on an ECMO machine.
The machine would help him keep his heart and lungs to keep on functioning.
He was on ECMO and ventilation from July 26 to August 9 with lots of ups and downs during that period.
After some time, he was taken off life support and was left on the ventilator for a week, which was then reduced to high-flow oxygen.
After spending 1 month in the hospital, he managed to recover.
But the sad part is that it impacted his physical strength.
Makayla said:
Grayson was like a large newborn baby. He could not sit up or even lift his head up. The first thing he asked for when he was awake was water and he was not able to drink it without the help of a straw. He is unable to have thin fluids die to moderate to severe aspirations and is being fed through an NG tube. Grayson is now going through physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy to help him get back to his normal self.
Despite the hard times, Grayson is laughing and smiling.
Doctors are now helping him out with a number od medical issues, which includes finding the cause of his obesity.