FLU PUT MY SON ON LIFE SUPPORT
IN JUST a few hours, Jaymon Gaul went from a healthy 10-year-old boy to fighting for his life in hospital with the flu.
His mother Tasha Millar has been by his side since he was airlifted from Chinchilla Hospital to Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in the early hours of Sunday, September 24.
Ms Millar said Jaymon suffered a minor cough a week prior to being taken to hospital, but that had gone away.
The Year 5 Chinchilla State School student had even been at hospital getting checked over after he was knocked over by a dog and got a sore leg just days before, with no sign of the virus.
But on Saturday, September 23 Jaymon’s health deteriorated to the point where an ambulance was called.
“As soon as we walked in the hospital, the doctor rang the flying doctor to get him out,” Ms Millar said.
“He was becoming more delusional and his temperature hit 40 and it wasn’t going down. He didn’t even feel hot, so that was very strange for me.”
Ms Millar said when doctors told her Jaymon had Influenza, she thought it would mean a drip to administer medicine. But by Wednesday he was put on life support.
Along with Influenza A and B, Jaymon has bacteremia, a blood clot in his leg, minor brain alterations, golden staph, enlarged liver and failing kidneys and is on dialysis and had a blood transfusion.
“I keep saying I am in a nightmare and I will wake up and this will all be a joke,” Ms Millar said.
“The main thing I want is for my son to wake up and say ‘mummy’.
“But I also want people to be aware of how dangerous this flu is.
“If I had waited and just thought he was tired and not called an ambulance, he wouldn’t be here now. It came on so quickly.”
As well as warning other parents about the dangers of the flu, she hopes to encourage people to donate blood for children just like Jaymon.
Ms Millar is finding it hard to believe how in just a matter of weeks her son was enjoying life, and his favourite thing - music.
She is now struggling both emotionally and financially and to make matters worse is recovering from a hip replacement from just six weeks ago which caused blood clots in her leg.
“When we were at Chinchilla hospital, he goes ‘mummy, do you need anything’,” Ms Millar said.
“He is always caring about everyone else.”
Ms Millar said Sunday was the first time she heard a bit of positive news after not hearing her son speak in seven days. Doctors were able to remove some mucus from his lungs and she said Jaymon had some colour in his face.
“They (doctors) have to try and prepare you for the worst. But this is the best we have seen him with colour in his face,” she said.
Ms Millar said she was staying positive for her son, but knows his recovery will be the hardest part.
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help with medical costs and to buy a laptop for him to listen to music on. Go to gofundme.com/5ngcxe-keep-fightinglil-man-jaymon.