 January 5, 1992- June 17, 2001 |
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| Joshua Update 4-3-99 | Visit Joshua's Prayer and Guestbook Page |
| Joshua Update 9/99 | 1 Year Post-op update |
| Joshua's Photo Album | Photo Album 2 Poems |
In Remembrance- Joshua's Memorial Page
January 5, 1992- June 17, 2001 |
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| Joshua Update 4-3-99 | Visit Joshua's Prayer and Guestbook Page |
| Joshua Update 9/99 | 1 Year Post-op update |
| Joshua's Photo Album | Photo Album 2 Poems |
Article by: Mark C. Smith Editor/Baker Observer
August 28, 1997
| Real heroes and true courage can
occur in the most unexpected places.This is the case with Baker's (LA.) Joshua
Anderson. The five and a half year old child was born with SpinaBifida,
Hydrocephalus and Arnold Chiari Malformation II. His overall condition has gotten
progressively worse as he has aged. At thirteen months, his doctors discovered that some of the food he had been ingesting had been flowing into his lungs and not into his stomach. It was then that a feeding tube was installed. The accumulation in the lungs had severely weakened them and has made Joshua extremely prone to aspiration pneumonia and other respiratory problems. Joshua also has a shunt, basically a drain, in place in his head to allow the excess fluid to drain away from his brain. This poses another danger, Staff infections. Staph Infections around the shunt sights are fairly common and those that have them and their primary caregivers are very careful about them. A severe illness and fear of a shunt infection is what sent Joshua to the hospital 2 days before Easter. On Easter Sunday, his grandmother, Haydee Clark, who is also his legal guardian, attempted to wake the child and was not able to do so. She checked his temperature and found it to be 107.6. She feared that he had a staph infection at the shunt sight. Acadian Ambulance was called to airlift the child to Ochsners Hospital in New Orleans where he was diagnosed with respiratory failure. Normal blood carbon dioxide levels are well below 45, Joshua's was 103. The doctors immediately called for the boy to be entubated and placed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He was placed on the ventilator for nine days. Joshua was comatose this whole time. The doctors told Clark that the only real hope they had for the child was an ECMO (Extra Corporal Membrane Oxygenation)machine. This device bypasses the lungs entirely and feeds oxygen directly into the blood stream and removes the carbon dioxide. It is only used as a last ditch measure. He was on the ECMO machine for a total of 33 days. Doctors tried twice to remove Joshua from the machine, but were unsuccessful. "The third time he came right off with no problem," Clark said. Once off the machine, Joshua's body began the long process of healing. His doctors continued to be amazed at the resilience of the child. Joshua was on life support for a total of 60 days. While on the ECMO machine, doctors made over 145 requests to the blood bank for Joshua. The machine is not kind to the human body in the course of saving it. ECMO destroys the bloods platelets, the clotting agent in the blood. The platelet destruction caused Joshua to hemorrhage from the nose and mouth. Family members were eating special diets to rapidly replace the platelets they were donating to Joshua. There were several blood drives for the boy as well. This particular crisis is behind Joshua now. He spent a total of 120 days in the hospital this time and has spent slightly less than half his life in a hospital room until now. Joshua is home now. He will forever be paralyzed from the waist down, and he can no longer speak, because of the radical tracheostomy he underwent during his last hospital stay. Clark's entire family has rallied to help the boy in any way possible. Even his oldest cousin Kodey, who is a year younger than Joshua, is called a "great help" by his grandmother. The needs of the boy are great. He has to take breathing treatments every four hours and his tracheostomy has to be suctioned constantly. If it is not cared for properly a mucus plug could develop and the child could die of asphyxiation. With all this going against him, Joshua still has a few things going in his favor. He has the love of a great family, and he has something within himself that even most healthy people do not have, a joy of life. "Even on his worst days in the hospital, he always had a smile on his face." Clark said with a loving smile of her own. Watching this bedridden child play in his bed while he watches a children's video is an inspiration to anyone who sees it. When he feels the eyes of an onlooker, he turns his head and gives a smile that lights his entire being. Joshua may be mute, but he can still communicate. He uses a combination of mouthed words gestures, and sign language to communicate his point. When he is not understood, unlike most children his age he retains his calm smile and "repeats" himself slowly until he is understood. When the other finally gets it he smile broadly. It appears to be in pride, but pride in himself for doing it or pride in the silly adult who finally figured it out. The trade for loosing his voice, the tracheostomy has allowed Joshua something new and very exciting in his life. He is slowly regaining the ability to eat. Everything is new to his palate. He still has to take the majority of his calories through the feeding tube in his stomach, but he is slowly exploring foods and drinks. His face becomes a huge animated smile when his "Nana" came into the room with an Orange Soda and let him have a sip. "It is so much fun to see his face when he experiences all the new flavors," Clark said. "He has his definite likes and dislikes." Clark and her mother laugh at a shared memory of something Joshua did not like the taste of very much. The entire family tries to include Joshua in every way possible in their normal lives. Clark discussed how independent minded the boy is. "If he thinks he can do it, we help him. He tries everything by himself." Joshua once climbed up the 15 stairs to his great-grandmothers balcony using just his arm strength. The reason he went up there was simply to see what the Christmas Tree looked like from the top. "He does not know he is handicapped," Clark said. And from all appearances he is not. The family has made an enlarged room for him that doubles as his class room. He has five separate teachers that come out to see him in the course of a week. The family has also gotten him a computer and has a tremendous number of books to keep his little mind active and make a fertile learning ground. Joshua has been tested and been found to be developmentally delayed, but Clark is not buying into that. "The things he missed on the standardized tests were all things about taste and speech. He had no point of reference when he took the test because he could not eat." Makes sense. The prognosis for his future is still sketchy, but whatever the future might bring to or inflict upon this child, he will meet it with a smile on his face and a loving family behind him backing him up every step of the way. The family wishes to thank everyone who donated their blood, time and prayers. Without your support, love and help, Joshua might not be alive today. Thank you again. |
Our Hero, Joshua Joshua's Favorite Sites include: Dolphin World - Cetacean Nation
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