Encephalitis Cases
Jonathan
He ran a very high temperature and they had a very hard time getting it down. They did say that he was very lucky not to have seizures, and that all they had to do was keep him alive, let the virus run it's course. He might have to do some re-learning of things, but for the most part he would be OK. The other thing that they said that we had lucked out on was the brain swelling. His brain had not swollen at all! We were all very glad to know this, and we felt that he would get better in a few weeks. After being in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) for about 5 days, the doctors came in and told us that his brain had started to swell. During this time they had also but him on a ventilator because the virus was attacking the part of the brain that controls the breathing, and he was having to fight for every breath.
The next step was to drill into his skull and place a drainage tube in his head to let the fluid drain out, and allow the pressure to drop. The tube worked for several days, but his brain continued to swell. We were with him 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. The big issue was to keep his brain pressure down so that he would not have any brain damage. They told us that if his pressure got too high, that his brain would herniate, cutting off all blood flow to the brain and he would be brain dead. A few days after that, May the 2nd, his pressure started to rise, and they couldn't get it to stop. The Doctors told us that the only thing they had left to do was to remove most of his skull, to let his brain swell even more, but that it would leave Jonathan in a vegetative. state forever, IF it didn't kill him during surgery. We made the hardest decision that any family could ever make. We chose not to do the surgery, and see if we could just wait it out. By the next morning, Jonathan's brain had herniated, and he was brain dead. The ventilator was the only thing keeping his heart beating.
On May 3rd, at 7:00pm we all stood around my 17 year old, handsome, smart, talented brother, and held his hands as the Doctor cut off life support. He passed away at 7:15pm, and a part of me died as well. We were as close as siblings can get. I wanted to share my story with you, I am only 21, and do not know what it is like to have a child, but I have watched my parents age before my eyes, and I have hurt right along with them. Jonathan was also my only brother, so the feeling of being alone is very real. Please believe that I will be praying for every single family on these pages.
Bless you Jonathan, I love you, and miss you deeply. Jaime Walker
North Carolina, U.S.A.
Posted: January 24, 2002
