Donnann's Story - Be prepared for tears.

Everything started last Tuesday morning. We were taking DD to school and Danny began to vomit in the car. (Danny had been sick before but we had gone about 2 weeks without any vomiting and seemed to be getting better). I babysit on Tuesdays so we headed over there. Danny was tired and not feeling so well so he laid down on the couch. He would wake up and vomit a little more. Then around 10 he tried to get up and walk to the bathroom. He was disoriented and couldn't walk straight, he kept falling and walking into the walls. He was also screaming in pain (Danny was not a complainer so this was very unusual). I called my DH to come home from work and take us to the hospital and called Jennifer (the lady I babysit for) to come home from work. They pulled into the driveway at the same time. We packed Danny into the car and left. He vomited again in the car.
At the hospital they took us straight to triage and made us put on masks thinking it might be viral menningitis (sp?). We were taken straight to a bed.
They started blood work. Then sent Danny for a CT Scan just to be safe. My DH stayed with Danny since only 1 could stay. He said he knew something was wrong because 4 techs came in right away during the scan and they were on the phone with the dr immediately but of course they couldn't tell us anything. They brought him back to the room, DH went outside to call family. I stayed with Danny. He started getting a rash all over his neck, face and chest. Then he started having labored breathing. I grabbed a nurse right away. Suddenly Danny stopped breathing and they took me out and put Danny on a ventilator and got him stable. The hospital we were at doesn't have a neurosurgeon or pediatric ICU. We were told about the tumor and that they would be medi vacing Danny to Rockford Memorial Hospital where a neurosurgeon was standing by. They put Danny on the helicopter and Dan and I rushed to the other hospital.
We arrived at the hospital to find them prepping Danny for emergency surgery. The neurosurgeon was waiting for us in the hall. She said that Danny had a lot of fluid on his brain and that it needed to be drained right away. Then she said "If he wakes up". This is the first time we really were beginning to understand how serious the situation was.
The surgery seemed to take forever. The dr told us the next 24-48 hours were critical. They needed to see some kind of response from Danny. At this point he was on a ventilator unable to breathe on his own, he was in a coma and his pupils were fixed and dialated-non responsive. The vigil began.
Family started arriving and long journeys from other states began. My mom, dad and 2 sisters drove 1800 miles straight through only stopping to potty. Dan's cousins got on the stand by list at the airport just waiting for any available flight. His Aunt and Uncle also got in the car to drive.
Dan and I took turns that night sitting vigil for our son. I went to sleep for about an hour in the waiting room in a sleeping chair. During my sleep I had a dream about Danny and in the dream God was preparing me for what was to come. Wed. came with no changes. We knew that we had decisions that needed to be made.
Our first decision was to have Danny baptized. My DH is catholic and I grew up in the Church of Christ. We had decided when our kids were little that it would be a decision we would allow them to make, but at the hospital we knew Danny would never be able to make that decision on his own. We had him baptized there in the hospital.
The Child Life Specialist there (who is simply amazing) worked with Madison during this time. We felt at this time that Madison needed to see here brother. She came into the room and amazed us all. She started screaming at the Dr and nurses to fix her brother. She screamed at Danny to come back to her, that she didn't want to be alone. She said do another test, give him a shot, just fix him.
At this point they moved around the tubes and wires to allow us to get into bed with Danny. Danny was a cuddler, my favorite times spent with him were curled up together in bed snuggling and watching cartoons together.
The Child Life Specialist came and took photos of us snuggling with Danny. It was so good to lay next to him and feel him against us. I fell asleep laying next to him. Again I dreamed of Danny and God came to tell me that Danny would be leaving me but it would be ok.
Night came and my DH and I had decided that he would spend the night with Danny and I would spend the night with Madison in the nurses dorm. We felt one of us really needed to be with Madison at that point and she needed to be in a regular bed. The nurses dorm was an attatched adjoining building.
At 4 am the phone rang for me to come upstairs right away. Madisons cousin stayed in the room with her and I sprinted up to the 3rd floor. Danny's blood pressure was sky rocketing. The pink rash was back as well. The dr came in and was able to get it back down. A new CT scan showed that all the fluid had drained but that his brain was swollen to the point there was no room for fluid. The brain had started to herniate down his spinal colum. The eeg showed no brain function. An apnea test came next. They declared him dead at 10 am on Thursday morning. They put him back on the ventilator to start the organ donation process. My parents, sisters and Dan's cousins all made it to the hospital and were able to spend some time with Danny. The child life specialist took a mold of Danny's hand for us. She took hand prints.

Through out the night we waited for results from the type matching, etc. We stayed with him the whole time. They took him at 8 am Friday morning for the surgery to take his organs. They were able to find a recepient for his heart, liver, pancreas and 2 kidneys. We came home to rest.

I have spent a lot of time in hospitals and I have never received the kind of caring and compassion and just simply amazing treatment that we received at this hospital. The staff there was so incredible. The nurses checked my sugar and gave me my insulin shots. They made sure I ate. They were always looking out for our needs as well as our sons. they broke the rules for us, allowing us to sleep in the room and have as many visitors in the room at a time as we wanted. They allowed Danny's friends to come in the room to see him at the hospital (even though you were supposed to be 12 or older). The dr and nurses came in on their time off to be with us. I can't say enough about them.

Our friends and family have been amazing. People came and let our dogs in and out. They cleaned our house, did our laundry, stocked our fridge. Ran errands for us. Prayers were said world wide and we felt them all. I can't even begin to tell you how much you all mean to me. You all are amazing women (and men).

Thank you everyone. I really felt like I needed to share this today. I am feeling all your love and it helps comfort me. I too am awed by God right now. I have never felt his presence as strong as I have over the last 2 weeks.