Skip to main content

Boy who doctors said wouldn’t survive prepares for 4th birthday

(WRBL) – The year 2017 is one Mississippi mother Rebekah McCardle will never forget. It was the year her baby boy Lucas “Tripp” McCardle lost 70 percent of his brain matter, became a quadriplegic, and lost his hearing and sight. He was 7 months old.

The crushing, frightening ordeal began with a fever of 106.

“When we took him to the emergency room initially for that fever, I was thinking the whole time we were driving down there I’ve never heard of a person with a fever that high,” said Rebekah McCardle, Tripp’s mom.

Nonetheless, the McCardles were sent home with their baby and some Tylenol. The next day mother and son were on a chopper being flown to the Children’s Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. The McCardles live in Purvis, Mississippi.

When Rebekah learned of a Phenix City, Alabama child with a similar story, she reached out to sister station WRBL in 2017. What tied the two families together was bacterial meningitis. In Tripp’s case, it was a strain his vaccine would not have prevented. 

“He didn’t have typical meningitis symptoms because I think the most common symptom is a rash and he didn’t have that so that’s why it wasn’t even on my radar,” said McCardle.

But it was on the radar of a neonatal specialist who just happened to be in the ER when the McCardles were there for the second time prior to going to Jackson. He strongly recommended to the doctors working on Tripp to give him a spinal tap. 

“So I went in there and watched three, four adults hold down every one of his limbs and him screaming,” said McCardle.

The fact that Tripp wouldn’t open his eyes, was lethargic and moaned when Rebekah picked him up is what sent her back to the ER. This was her first child but her intuition told her this was serious and she was right. Doctors in Jackson gave Rebekah and her family very little hope after they ran a battery of tests.

“They gave us no hope at all. When they first took those I think CT scans and stuff and MRIs that showed his brain … it was so grim a picture that they painted because they said ‘you know … brain matter is white,’ and his scans were pretty much black all in the middle. They were only white towards the outer edges. It didn’t even resemble a normal CT scan of a brain. It was so horrible and they said I don’t think he can come back from this,” said McCardle.

But Tripp had a praying family.

“It was the day that his brain started swelling and they pushed us out of the room and I could just hear a drill and they told us they were drilling a hole in his skull to relieve the pressure and he probably would not survive it. My father-in-law is a 6-foot-4 man. He’s huge and he’s very quiet, maybe says a word or two. He was on his knees bawling and I was like ‘Oh my God, this is real. This is real.’ So we all got down on our knees and started praying,” said McCardle.

 After praying she was able to speak to doctors again with a sense of peace.

“I was just calm as could be, we talked and everybody literally thought I had lost my mind but I had felt such a peace like a blanket of peace. God saying ‘I’m handling it,’” said McCardle.

Rebekah McCardle reached out to WRBL this week to share an update about Tripp. This child who was not supposed to survive will turn 4 years old on July 21. He’s now 42 inches tall. 

“Having a disabled child like him is like you’re going through the grieving process. It’s the cycle of grief over and over, it never stops because we’re grieving the child that used to be.”

Today, when Rebekah looks at her son, she’s thankful for the batting of each eyelid and every breath he takes.

“I just appreciate everything he does. When he laughs and giggles it’ll light up your soul. I’ve seen people in public and his therapist they cry when he laughs and smiles because it’s so angelic and I honestly feel like he has certain moments when he’s looking around … that he’s talking to angels. You just get a feeling that he’s beyond our world for sure,” said McCardle.


from FOX 5 San Diego
Source: https://ift.tt/2ZgLtER

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Virginia family gets keys to Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the US

(CNN) — One Virginia family received the keys to their new  3D-printed home  in time for Christmas. The home is Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the nation,  according to a Habitat news release. Janet V. Green, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg, told CNN it partnered with Alquist, a 3D printing company, earlier this year to begin the process. The 1,200-square-foot home has three bedrooms, two full baths and was built from concrete. The technology allowed the home to be built in just 12 hours, which saves about four weeks of construction time for a typical home. April Stringfield purchased the home through the  Habitat Homebuyer Program . She will move in with her 13-year-old son just in time for the holidays. “My son and I are so thankful,” Stringfield said in a  live feed streamed on Habitat’s Facebook  page. “I always wanted to be a homeowner. It’s like a dream come true.” To purchase the home, Stringfield logged hundreds of hours of

Lawsuit: High school football player says coaches forced him to eat pizza as punishment, violating religious beliefs

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat a pizza covered with pepperoni grease in violation of his religious beliefs is suing his former district and the ousted coaches. The former Canton McKinley High School athlete and his parents filed a federal civil rights suit this week seeking millions of dollars in damages and alleging violations of his religious freedom and constitutional rights. The athlete says in the lawsuit that coaches were notified he doesn’t eat pork or pork residue as a member of the Hebrew Israelite religious faith, but that they ordered him to eat the pizza as punishment for missing an offseason workout — and indicated his spot on the team was at risk if he didn’t. The coaches say the player chose to remove pepperoni and eat the pizza rather than an alternative food. They weren’t aware it violated his religious beliefs, according to a  defamation case they filed  previously against the teen’s father, his attorney a

Bergeron, Pastrnak and Bruins finish off Capitals in 5 games

WASHINGTON (AP) — Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak dazzled on offense, Tuukka Rask was rock solid in net and the Boston Bruins are moving on to the second round of the playoffs. Bergeron scored twice at crucial times after Pastrnak’s  highlight-reel  goal, Rask made 40 saves and the Bruins eliminated the Washington Capitals in five games with a 3-1 victory Sunday night. Bergeron delivered the dagger with 7:35 left to set up a second-round showdown against either the Pittsburgh Penguins or New York Islanders. Chants of “TUUKK!” emanated from a large group of black and gold-clad Boston fans who were part of the limited-capacity sellout crowd of 5,333. Those were occasionally interrupted by “We want the Cup!” — the trophy the Bruins last won a decade ago after a 39-year title drought. They’re 12 wins away, thanks to their best players dominating in Game 5. Pastrnak made it look easy putting the puck behind his back and through his legs, assisted on Bergeron’s first goal and was par