Mackenzie rebounds from serious injury
When a former Wright State University assistant basketball coach and his family arrived in Chicago last winter from Dayton, Ohio for two games against Chicago teams, he assumed the only battles would be on the court. Instead, it marked the beginning of a courageous fight by the medical staff at Children's Memorial Hospital to save the life of his toddler daughter, Mackenzie.
During the visit, the coach's wife, Joni, and their three daughters were staying at the home of a family friend. As Joni came out of the bathroom, she saw 13-month-old Mackenzie put down an oil candle. The girl had ingested a small amount of oil. She began coughing, which caused her to breathe hydrocarbon into her lungs. Joni immediately called 911, and paramedics arrived soon afterwards to rush her daughter to the hospital.
Doctors in the emergency department inserted a tube into her windpipe and connected it to a ventilator, which helped her breathe. Then, Mackenzie was transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit where tests revealed inflammation in her lungs, a condition that can be fatal. In the PICU she was treated by Michael Kelleher, MD, Kelly Michelson, MD and Babette Horn, MD of Children's Memorial's Division of Critical Care Medicine . Mackenzie spent two weeks heavily sedated, while a ventilator called a high frequency oscillator kept her lungs inflated with air and allowed them to heal.
During most of the six weeks their daughter was hospitalized, the family stayed at nearby Ronald McDonald House, which allowed Brian and Joni to alternate nights at Mackenzie's bedside. Brian says the family used the computers in the business center of the Janice and Kimberly Brown Family Life Center and set up a Web site on CarePages.com to allow family and friends to follow Mackenzie's progress. Brian says the family received nearly 500 messages. “Knowing that family and friends were praying for us really made a difference,” he says.
Gradually Mackenzie's condition improved and she began breathing on her own. Shortly after X-rays confirmed that her lungs had healed, she was released from the hospital and the family returned to Dayton. Although she is undergoing physical and occupational therapy, Mackenzie is making a remarkable comeback, according to her dad. He plans to bring Mackenzie back to Chicago so her caregivers can see how well she's doing now.
Brian says that the care Mackenzie received from the doctors and nurses was unbelievable. “Once when things were really looking bad we asked Dr. Michelson when we would know when enough was enough,” he remembers. “She told us that she would tell us if things didn't look good, but that she and the other doctors were optimistic, so we shouldn't worry. That meant so much to us.”
Brian says that no home can be completely child-proofed, but parents need to be aware of the dangers of oil candles and torches.
“Kids are kids, and you can never foresee something like this,” he says. “These kinds of candles and lamps are so common, and in the summer many people have tiki torches, which use lamp oil. It's very important that people keep them out of the reach of kids.”
The Division of Critical Care Medicine is supported by Mr. and Mrs. John H. Krehbiel, Jr., the Pritzker Foundation and the Stephanie Weitzman Foundation, among others.
Children's Memorial Hospital seeks philanthropic funding to enhance its programs and services. As a proud partner of the Children's Miracle Network (CMN), all funds raised in the Chicago area through CMN also benefit Children's Memorial. To find out how your support can help the hospital better serve children and families, please contact the Children's Memorial Foundation at 773.880.4237 or Foundation@childrensmemorial.org.