Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Prayers Needed For Liam's Surgery Tomorrow at 6am!!!!
Night Post: Liam barely napped on the way to Sioux Falls yet it was still a pleasant trip-we only made one stop even. Thank u for your prayers for t5hat part of this journey. The big day is tomorrow...soooooo thankful for this opportunity and really am praying praying praying they work so our swet boy can hear us talking to him....I can't wait until I can tell him "Liam, it's mommy...and I love you so much!" Please God let this surgery work so this can happen! We check in at 6 am surgery will be around 730am and last a couple of hours. He should be outpatient. Just a reminder that even after the cochlear implant is put in we still have to wait a few weeks for them to heal b4 they turn them on to see if they work. Thank you all for covering us in prayer! God is good!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Liam in the Newspaper!!!!
Liam Kenrick already got one miracle. Now he needs another.
Sandy and Casey Kenrick of Rapid City believe their son’s survival from bacterial meningitis is nothing short of God’s work, even though the disease left their 2-year-old son deaf and blind.
Sometime in the next two weeks, Liam will receive a cochlear implant, a device that can sometimes restore hearing to deaf patients.
The Kenricks hold out hope that the device will work for their son, but Sandy admits that the odds are not in his favor. “Unless a miracle happens, it probably won’t return,” she said. “We need another miracle.”
Despite the challenges Liam faces, the couple have made a conscious choice to remain positive and rejoice that they still have their son – a reality doctors did not think possible. “It’s crazy to feel so blessed in a circumstance like this,” said Casey, a Pennington County Sheriff’s Deputy. “We still feel God’s not done with him yet.”
Liam came down with what looked to be a simple stomach bug on Jan. 3, the day he would have returned to day care after Christmas break. Sandy, pregnant with the couple’s second child, said her son unexpectedly vomited. Then he developed the “shakes.” Eventually, he seemed to feel better.
Sandy called Liam’s pediatrician, who suspected he might have influenza.
Other than a high fever, Liam acted fairly normal throughout the night. But by the next day, he started to act “like he really didn’t feel well,” Sandy said.
He complained of a headache, was feverish and uncomfortable.
Casey took him to the doctor, asking to have him “tested.” Sandy wishes now she would have been more specific. A blood test may have shown that something bacterial was brewing in Liam’s blood. Instead, he was tested for strep throat and bladder infection. Both were normal.
After a second night of illness, Liam’s symptoms took a dramatic turn for the worse. He became “lifeless,” lying on the couch, starring at the ceiling with little emotion.
Frightened, the couple rushed him back to the doctor, who now referred them directly to the emergency department at Rapid City Regional Hospital.
Liam’s doctor there ordered a blood test. While waiting for the results, he was admitted to the hospital. As his condition worsened, he began to “talk gibberish” in a high-pitched voice, Casey said. His back and neck stiffened. He thrashed in his bed.
His physician, suspecting bacterial meningitis, made the decision to begin treatment with two kinds of antibiotics. That decision probably saved his life, Sandy said.
Bacterial meningitis occurs when bacteria enter the bloodstream and migrates to the brain and spinal cord. It can also occur when it invades the brain directly after a skull fracture, ear or sinus infection.
The bacterial meningitis causes devastating swelling of the brain. About 500 people die of bacterial meningitis each year, sometimes killing patients within hours of initial symptoms.
Liam had been vaccinated against meningitis in his regular immunizations, Sandy said. Why or how he got it remains a mystery.
But three days after his initial symptoms, Liam was placed into a medically induced coma, placed on a breathing machine and flown to Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls. “Once we got to Sanford, he was going downhill fast,” Casey said.
Within a day of arriving in Sioux Falls, a spinal tap showed that the antibiotics had killed the bacteria, but the damage was done and continuing. The swelling of Liam’s brain was causing brain damage.
As the doctors worked to stabilize Liam, they offered the Kenricks a bleak diagnosis. If the swelling continued, it could press on his brain stem and cause brain death. If he lived, they believed Liam would be unable to breathe on his own, walk or talk.
The couple was given the option of removing Liam’s breathing tube and allowing him to die peacefully.
“It was probably one of the worst nights of my life,” Sandy said. “But during that whole meeting, I kept thinking, ‘wait, wait, wait.’”
So the family did, with the doctor’s support. They waited.
“We had our faith, so I think we had a different look at it,” Casey said.
At first, Liam showed no reaction to touch, pain or interaction. He remained on the breathing tube for 12 days. When his throat swelled after the tube was removed, doctors were forced to replace it. Sandy said eventually, the tube was removed for good but, due to strokes caused by the swelling, Liam couldn’t move his right side and his left eye was damaged. For nearly a week, he screamed at the mere touch, a side effect of medication withdrawals and damage to his brain. “It was awful,” said Sandy.
Slowly, despite the ups and downs, Liam’s distress subsided.
On Feb. 8, doctors moved Liam from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility. They confirmed to the Kenricks what the couple already suspected -- their son was profoundly deaf and blind. He also faced the possibility of mental disabilities.
But the couple said they watched their son’s personality and intellect return as he slowly recovered, especially once he stopped taking pain medication. “He just got better and better and said more and more words,” Sandy said.
They watched him give his rehabilitation therapist “five” and then “knuckles,” the hand greeting he learned before the illness. He slowly regained his language, telling anyone who asked too much of him “No” and “Stop.”
As he learned to walk with help, he gave his rehab therapists directions. “He is still the same kid,” Casey said. “I really think a miracle took place. Everything they said really shouldn’t have happened. We really think God did a miracle. There’s no medical explanation for him doing as good as he is.”
Liam and his parents returned home to Rapid City on March 23. Though he can’t see or hear, Liam knew he was home. He couldn’t wait to play with his Christmas toys, a plastic workbench in particular.
Liam doesn’t seem particularly bothered by his lack of vision or hearing, his mother said. Sometimes he asks his parents why they aren’t talking to him or ask them to “turn on the lights.”
“It breaks my heart but it doesn’t appear to faze him,” said Sandy.
Liam will be fitted for a cochlear implant within the next two weeks. Casey and Sandy hope and pray it will work.
The family is also busy preparing for the birth of their new baby. While Casey has returned to work as much as possible, he has run out of paid days off. Sandy hasn’t been able to return to her teaching job at Wilson Elementary.
They can’t deny the challenges they face, both financially and emotional, but neither is willing to complain.
“I hate that this happened to him,” Sandy said. “But we have Liam. He’s here. It’s going to be a very long road, but we’re choosing joy over the alternative.”
Adds Casey, “We’re looking at the blessings in all this. God truly gave us our son back. He’s going to be fine … I just have this feeling we’re still not at the end of this story.”
Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at 394-8414 or lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com.
Read more: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/couple-see-miracle-in-son-s-recovery/article_eded3dba-7b8c-11e1-b91c-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz1qq5T0sti
Sandy and Casey Kenrick of Rapid City believe their son’s survival from bacterial meningitis is nothing short of God’s work, even though the disease left their 2-year-old son deaf and blind.
Sometime in the next two weeks, Liam will receive a cochlear implant, a device that can sometimes restore hearing to deaf patients.
The Kenricks hold out hope that the device will work for their son, but Sandy admits that the odds are not in his favor. “Unless a miracle happens, it probably won’t return,” she said. “We need another miracle.”
Despite the challenges Liam faces, the couple have made a conscious choice to remain positive and rejoice that they still have their son – a reality doctors did not think possible. “It’s crazy to feel so blessed in a circumstance like this,” said Casey, a Pennington County Sheriff’s Deputy. “We still feel God’s not done with him yet.”
Liam came down with what looked to be a simple stomach bug on Jan. 3, the day he would have returned to day care after Christmas break. Sandy, pregnant with the couple’s second child, said her son unexpectedly vomited. Then he developed the “shakes.” Eventually, he seemed to feel better.
Sandy called Liam’s pediatrician, who suspected he might have influenza.
Other than a high fever, Liam acted fairly normal throughout the night. But by the next day, he started to act “like he really didn’t feel well,” Sandy said.
He complained of a headache, was feverish and uncomfortable.
Casey took him to the doctor, asking to have him “tested.” Sandy wishes now she would have been more specific. A blood test may have shown that something bacterial was brewing in Liam’s blood. Instead, he was tested for strep throat and bladder infection. Both were normal.
After a second night of illness, Liam’s symptoms took a dramatic turn for the worse. He became “lifeless,” lying on the couch, starring at the ceiling with little emotion.
Frightened, the couple rushed him back to the doctor, who now referred them directly to the emergency department at Rapid City Regional Hospital.
Liam’s doctor there ordered a blood test. While waiting for the results, he was admitted to the hospital. As his condition worsened, he began to “talk gibberish” in a high-pitched voice, Casey said. His back and neck stiffened. He thrashed in his bed.
His physician, suspecting bacterial meningitis, made the decision to begin treatment with two kinds of antibiotics. That decision probably saved his life, Sandy said.
Bacterial meningitis occurs when bacteria enter the bloodstream and migrates to the brain and spinal cord. It can also occur when it invades the brain directly after a skull fracture, ear or sinus infection.
The bacterial meningitis causes devastating swelling of the brain. About 500 people die of bacterial meningitis each year, sometimes killing patients within hours of initial symptoms.
Liam had been vaccinated against meningitis in his regular immunizations, Sandy said. Why or how he got it remains a mystery.
But three days after his initial symptoms, Liam was placed into a medically induced coma, placed on a breathing machine and flown to Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls. “Once we got to Sanford, he was going downhill fast,” Casey said.
Within a day of arriving in Sioux Falls, a spinal tap showed that the antibiotics had killed the bacteria, but the damage was done and continuing. The swelling of Liam’s brain was causing brain damage.
As the doctors worked to stabilize Liam, they offered the Kenricks a bleak diagnosis. If the swelling continued, it could press on his brain stem and cause brain death. If he lived, they believed Liam would be unable to breathe on his own, walk or talk.
The couple was given the option of removing Liam’s breathing tube and allowing him to die peacefully.
“It was probably one of the worst nights of my life,” Sandy said. “But during that whole meeting, I kept thinking, ‘wait, wait, wait.’”
So the family did, with the doctor’s support. They waited.
“We had our faith, so I think we had a different look at it,” Casey said.
At first, Liam showed no reaction to touch, pain or interaction. He remained on the breathing tube for 12 days. When his throat swelled after the tube was removed, doctors were forced to replace it. Sandy said eventually, the tube was removed for good but, due to strokes caused by the swelling, Liam couldn’t move his right side and his left eye was damaged. For nearly a week, he screamed at the mere touch, a side effect of medication withdrawals and damage to his brain. “It was awful,” said Sandy.
Slowly, despite the ups and downs, Liam’s distress subsided.
On Feb. 8, doctors moved Liam from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility. They confirmed to the Kenricks what the couple already suspected -- their son was profoundly deaf and blind. He also faced the possibility of mental disabilities.
But the couple said they watched their son’s personality and intellect return as he slowly recovered, especially once he stopped taking pain medication. “He just got better and better and said more and more words,” Sandy said.
They watched him give his rehabilitation therapist “five” and then “knuckles,” the hand greeting he learned before the illness. He slowly regained his language, telling anyone who asked too much of him “No” and “Stop.”
As he learned to walk with help, he gave his rehab therapists directions. “He is still the same kid,” Casey said. “I really think a miracle took place. Everything they said really shouldn’t have happened. We really think God did a miracle. There’s no medical explanation for him doing as good as he is.”
Liam and his parents returned home to Rapid City on March 23. Though he can’t see or hear, Liam knew he was home. He couldn’t wait to play with his Christmas toys, a plastic workbench in particular.
Liam doesn’t seem particularly bothered by his lack of vision or hearing, his mother said. Sometimes he asks his parents why they aren’t talking to him or ask them to “turn on the lights.”
“It breaks my heart but it doesn’t appear to faze him,” said Sandy.
Liam will be fitted for a cochlear implant within the next two weeks. Casey and Sandy hope and pray it will work.
The family is also busy preparing for the birth of their new baby. While Casey has returned to work as much as possible, he has run out of paid days off. Sandy hasn’t been able to return to her teaching job at Wilson Elementary.
They can’t deny the challenges they face, both financially and emotional, but neither is willing to complain.
“I hate that this happened to him,” Sandy said. “But we have Liam. He’s here. It’s going to be a very long road, but we’re choosing joy over the alternative.”
Adds Casey, “We’re looking at the blessings in all this. God truly gave us our son back. He’s going to be fine … I just have this feeling we’re still not at the end of this story.”
Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at 394-8414 or lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com.
Read more: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/couple-see-miracle-in-son-s-recovery/article_eded3dba-7b8c-11e1-b91c-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz1qq5T0sti
DIAPER DRIVE FOR THE KENRICK FAMILY IN RAPID CITY!!!! APRIL 14, 2012
Celebrating God's miracle and blessing the Kenrick Family with a year of diapers and baby essentials for Liam (size 6) and the new baby (size 1-4). Stop by Fischer Furniture parking lot where we will be collecting bundles of blessings.
WHEN:
Saturday, April 14, 2012. 10:30am until 2:30pm in MDT
Fischer Furniture
1830 West Main St., Rapid City, SD 57702
WHEN:
Saturday, April 14, 2012. 10:30am until 2:30pm in MDT
Fischer Furniture
1830 West Main St., Rapid City, SD 57702
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