Tragedy strikes one of our own...but Willie made his way home to his family

[imjustagirl]

I've posted about this in a vague way on the letters to good people thread, but he gave the ok today to start a thread.

The 5-year-old son of fellow poster kleeda suffered a severe head injury in a 25-foot fall Sunday afternoon/evening. He is in critical condition, and the next 24 hours are the riskiest. Following is an e-mail he sent to the staff today.

Everyone,

William, 5, is still in the pediatric ICU at CCMC. The next 36 hours are the most grave. He has a 1 in 3 chance of survival at this point. It is much too early to make any guesses as to long-term quality of life, but there have been positive signs in recent hours. He is in a stage 6 coma, up from a 5 yesterday. 3 is the worst, 15 the best. He has massive brain trauma, and a portion of his skull was removed to leave room for swelling and relieve pressure. The removed bone was implanted near his stomach so it can be removed and replaced as still-living tissue should he make it that far.

The nature of his injuries have actually served to help him survive this long. The multiple fractures to his cranium allowed his brain to swell without the kind of pressure that would have killed him. Remarkably, there are no other injuries of note and he is able to move all his extremities. We would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of concern, well-wishes and offers of support. We may need more later, but for now, my mother, my wife's father and my sister are here and trying to keep our 6-year-old son on a routine.

I went and visited William today. His head is severely swollen, but his numbers apparently were good. He had no other injuries aside from one broken vertebra. It's a miracle he's alive, but we're hoping for at least one more miracle.

Please, any prayers, positive thoughts, well wishes etc. that you could afford to this beautiful child and his family would be appreciated by them and me.

Thank you.

 

[Moderator1]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

Sad stuff. I echo IJAG's sentiments about keeping this great family in your thoughts.

 

[KYSportsWriter]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

Prayers still heading that way, ijag. Keep us posted.

 

[Beaker]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

kleeda, my thoughts are with you and your son and your family. I'll certainly be pulling for him.

 

[Songbird]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

best wishes, kleeda.

 

[jgmacg]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

I send the warmest thoughts of our tiny household.

 

[zeke12]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

I'm keeping a good thought.

 

[RossLT]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

I'll light a candle for them.

 

[buckweaver]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

My heart goes out to kleeda and the family. Good luck.

 

[jps]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

praying now, as is mrs. jps and the little one.

 

[BYH]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

My good God. That is just awful.

Best thoughts and wishes to Kleeda and his family at this incomprehensible time.

 

[OTD]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

Kleeda, my prayers go out to your son and your family. Hang in there.

 

[JakeandElwood]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

Best wishes, kleeda.

 

[jlee]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

My sympathies and prayers to you, kleeda.

 

[Tommy_Dreamer]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

Stay strong. Everybody here's pulling for your little guy.

 

[forever_town]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

My thoughts are with you kleeda. And William.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

Keep fighting William.

 

[sportschick]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

This made me sick to my stomach. Kleeda's one of the good guys. Thoughts and prayers to William and the rest of the Kleeda family.

 

[shockey]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

prayers and heartache. keep up the good fight, little man kleeda.

 

[Write-brained]

Re: Tragedy strikes one of our own

This is so awful. I'm so sorry. Something like this would destroy me if it were to happen to my little girl. Please tell Kleeda we're with him and to let us know if he needs anything at all. Our hearts and thoughts are with him, his family and his son.