BOY OFF LIFE SUPPORT AFTER DEADLY FLU
Chinchilla boy able to be taken off life support
AFTER coming down with a deadly case of the flu and being put on life support, young Jaymon Gaul has finally taken a step forward in his recovery.
The 10-year-old Chinchilla boy spent about two weeks on life support after what seemed to be a minor cough became influenza, causing a long list of complications including staph, bacteremia and a blood clot.
His mother Tasha Millar said her son was able to be taken off life support on Wednesday, which she called a “relief”.
“He is still fighting hard and still a long way to go but he’s improving every day,” she said.
Ms Millar said doctors had tried to take him off life support earlier this week, but it did not go as planned. Luckily a second attempt worked.
“He still needs a breathing machine, so he is on that, and had to start dialysis back up because his kidneys aren’t good,” she said.
“It is pretty much minute by minute because he is still a very sick boy.”
Despite the long road still ahead, Ms Millar is still staying positive for Jaymon, who was expected to undergo surgery for a staph infection in his leg.
“Doctors said he was as sick as he could have gotten on life support,” she said. “He is fighting hard.” Ms Millar said she was sitting by his bedside at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, where he has been since he was airlifted from Chinchilla Hospital on September 24.
“I always play his music and sit there and hold his hand,” she said.
“I just talk to him all the time and keep telling him ‘mummy needs you’ and rub his hair.”
Ms Millar said she still found it hard to believe she had not heard her son speak in almost three weeks.
“He had his eyes open two days ago because they brought him out of sedation a little bit to check his brain,” she said.
“So far his brain is going great.
“I know he can’t talk but he knew I was there, he kept blinking every time I spoke.”
Ms Millar thanked the community for its messages of support and donations of more than $3000 via Go Fund Me.
❝ Doctors said he was as sick as he could have gotten on life support. — Tasha Millar