gbmatt
January 29, 2009, 5:12am
1
There is a young boy named Brett. Lives here in Alabama. He has a rare type of brain cancer that he has been fighting for many months now. It has been causing him to have alot of seizures and difficulty speaking. He had been doing better recently, but today he started having alot of seizures again and it took them a long time ot get them stopped.
His parents made a website
http://www.helpbrett.com/
i’m not asking anyone to donate or anything. But please pray for him. There is a thread on tidesports
http://forums.tidesports.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3731098265/m/2961058957
where his father updates frequently. As you can see that is a 'Bama football website. That is how I know about it. I had been debating for a while of whether or not to post here, but decided to finally do it.
So please just keep Brett and his family in your thoughts and prayers.
JDW
January 30, 2009, 12:54am
2
My prayers go out to this boy and his family.
gbmatt
January 30, 2009, 6:25am
3
Thank you JDW.
Update from Bretts parents yesterday-
This is Tanda. We’re in between visiting hours in ICU so I wanted to update real quick.
Brett made it through the night with no seizures and his vital signs have remained normal. He will be weaned off of the ventilator and eventually will be moved out of ICU and into a regular room. They put him back on his original dose of Depakote to keep him from seizing more.
His doctors are speculating that the reduction in his Depakote dose may have contributed to his increased seizure activity. Probably his depakote levels were too low yesterday causing him to spiral into an uncontrollable series of seizures. They gave him everything they could to stop them and still keep him breathing on his own but he was out of control and didn’t have the strength to keep going.
They purposefully paralized him and gave him a very strong seizures medicine (one which usually causes him to stop breathing well) and was intubated around 6pm last night. A CT scan indicated nothing and an MRI is in the plan.
Today his color is good, he’s taking breaths on his own and even coughing so we’re encouraged by that. He looks much better than yesterday and we’re grateful that we have another day with him.
Will update if things change.
Tanda
Crix
January 30, 2009, 4:21pm
4
I’m really not one for prayer, but I hope he gets better soon.
gbmatt
January 30, 2009, 8:01pm
5
thanks crix
Another update from TIdesports
ICU Update
I am sitting here at Brett’s bedside in ICU. He is still on the breathing machine. But is doing good.
They have been weaning him off of the machine. He is down to 10 breathes per minute by the machine. And he is taking around 25-30 breathes a minutes…which means 15-20 breathes are his own! That is very good news.
He had a very small seizure today. But they were expecting a little activity as his body gets used to his regular dosages again. The seizure was about 90 seconds…not too bad and it stopped on its own. They are happy with the day he had today. He has been able to rest well all day. I am so glad to see that. The boy had a heck of a day yesterday. It really got bad. The chaplain came up and I thought we were about to lose him. But God has given us more time with our son. I do praise God for that.
The plan is to try to take the tube out either tomorrow or Saturday. And hopefully, if all goes we will take him home early next week.
Thank you all for keeping up with my son. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. Please keep lifting Brett up in your prayers…and pray for us too.
Joe
gbmatt
February 2, 2009, 5:40am
6
update on Brett tonight, I would update on Proptopia too, but it isn’t coming up right now. I will try again in the morning
Sunday Update
Brett has been off of the bi-pap machine most of the day. Other than some spells where he began breathing faster they were comfortable with his respirations.
He had an xray taken of his chest this morning. It’s showing fluid in his bottom-right lung and they said that it was worse today than a couple of days ago. He hasn’t been running fever and he’s not wheezing so they don’t think it’s an infection. Just fluid. They are giving him a diuretic to help him get rid of the extra fluid naturally. They may start his feedings again tomorrow also.
We have no idea how long he’ll have to be here. They haven’t talked about moving him out of ICU yet so we’re a little discouraged, but know that they have incredible nurses and doctors there that can take care of him well.
He did have one seizure this evening. But he was able to stop on his own without intervention.
So, that’s where we’re at today. Maybe tomorrow will be better. :0)
Thanks for reading!
Tanda
gbmatt
February 3, 2009, 7:49pm
7
Brett had a rough night. They are moving him back to ICU
gbmatt
February 17, 2009, 4:24am
8
Got some VERY bad news a little bit ago. Brett had been getting worse. Been having 40+ seizures a day. Doctors did a CT Scan and it shows that his disease has spread. They are taking him off of chemo treatments. Said all they can do for him now is try and make him comfortable. Please keep praying for Brett and his family…
JDW
February 20, 2009, 9:57pm
9
oh that really sucks man. I hate to hear that. Poor kid.
such sad news. thoughts go out to him and his family
gbmatt
February 27, 2009, 9:50pm
11
Im just full of bad news this week.
Just got word that Brett passed away at 1:10pm today. He had gone into cardiac arrest early this morning. They had to do CPR and give him some medication to get his heart going again, but he was on life support. His father said that he went peacefully and was surrounded by his family.
Please keep his family in your prayers as well. Hopefulyl i can give some good news sometime in the future instead of bad news.
Rest In Peace Brett Jackson. You will not be forgotten. RTR.
JDW
February 28, 2009, 12:37am
13
well that just sucks. it has just been a crappy month.
gbmatt
February 28, 2009, 12:40am
14
aint that the truth…the entire year has actually been pretty crappy so far.
Condolences to the family. The only thing worse than losing a loved one is losing a child.
