“On June 13, 2023, my 10-year-old daughter, Karmen, had an endoscopy with a Bravo placement, which is a capsule placed in the esophagus to monitor acid levels.
Immediately after surgery, she was hurting horribly, but everyone said it was normal. Most of her doctors kept dismissing us and told us to just wait until it passed.
She continued to get worse, and it just didn’t seem normal. She wouldn’t eat or drink, and things just got worse and worse. I just knew in my gut there was something more to her being so ill.
One morning at 5 a.m., Karmen texted my phone asking if she could sleep with me. She said her belly was hurting, so I got up and started walking to her.
She collapsed halfway and started vomiting black. Her body was officially in septic shock.
I grabbed our bags, put her in the car, and off I went, about to live my worst nightmare. I knew it was bad, but what was ahead of me I was not expecting.
When we got to the emergency room, we encountered Dr. Joseph Peeden. He didn’t leave her side but told us she was in critical condition and what she had was rare and deadly.
He said if I hadn’t brought her in within the next 3 hours, we wouldn’t have her today. That broke me, and those words will never leave my mind.
Karmen was diagnosed with pneumonia of the right lung and an infection of the mediastinum in the center cavity between the lungs that moved up to her neck. She was also in septic shock, had a gastrointestinal bleed, and was tachycardic with a dangerously fast heart rate.
Yes, all of that.
I felt like I wasn’t even in my real body at that moment. It was a complete and utter nightmare. I couldn’t even speak.
They immediately admitted her to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and she had a full critical care medical team. She had a 4-day stay in the PICU with 24-hour care and then stayed on the floor below for 4 more days.
To this day, my heart hurts. All the medication that had to go through her little body and the pain she had to go through changed me for life, and it’s something I’ll never forget.
You may actually ask yourself why I’m telling a gut wrenching story about my daughter almost passing, but I felt led to honor my 10-year-old daughter’s fearlessness and faith as I got to witness and fight by her side as she was on her death bed.
She didn’t complain one time, and when I say not one time, I mean it. When I asked her why she didn’t have any fear, dread, or shed any tears, she said, ‘Because God told me he was going to take care of me, so there was nothing for me to fear.’ Here I was, 29, and she was so much stronger than her mommy.
Today, Karmen is 10 years old. She loves her friends, loves her siblings, and is the sweetest soul you would ever meet. She is thriving like any other little girl her age and living life to the fullest.
We hope there are no effects in the future from all the trauma. Right now, we are hopeful and optimistic that she will always be a normal and perfectly healthy girl.
Karmen will always be my sunshine after my biggest storm and my biggest inspiration. She truly deserves the world.”
Credit goes to the respective owner……❤️❤️❤️
