Joseph Felo

I will tell you about my son, who had a bone marrow transplant on 12/2018 and had many complications along the way. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System)

In September 2019 my son turned 29, and a week after this he began having pain on upper right side of his chest, was instructed to go to the nearest ER. We went to ER and he was transported by ambulance to Roswell in Buffalo. He was inpatient for 5 days and we went to Buffalo to bring him home, and I asked him why his stomach was so bloated and he said he didn’t know and he said he was tired. By Saturday after this discharge, he had horrific stomach pain and vomiting and we called 911 and he was taken back to ER and he had high heart rate, low blood pressure and a fever. My son’s platelets were low, low white count, so hospital placed him in ICU, and meanwhile they weren’t able to control the pain and he kept vomiting the whole time. The hospital he was in kept calling Roswell, and I kept calling Roswell. We were waiting for a bed. Hospital we were at ordered platelets that had to come from Rochester, and gave my son growth factor shot to get him some sort of white count.

My son was airlifted to Roswell, and then intubated and sent for stomach surgery where they found a perforation in the small stomach and repaired this. (Sepsis and Perforated Bowel) My son wasn’t coming around after surgery the way they thought he should and thought he may be brain dead, and I kept talking to my son and at 11p.m. that night, his eyes followed my voice. I was hopeful my son would recover, but things got worst by the next 2 days and they told me my son was going to die. By now they have blood cultures back saying my son had e coli. (Sepsis and Intestinal E. Coli Infection) My son was on three pressure medications, several antibiotics, sedation, insulin, and his skin began to break down and leak. My son passed away on 4th day in ICU at Roswell.

I feel my son was sent home to soon after the first hospitalization during these few weeks, and right back in with awful pain and vomiting. My son did tell his provider at upstate cancer center about his pain in upper right side of chest before first ER visit and hospital stay at Roswell, and she felt his stomach area and said she didn’t feel anything abnormal. Pain and low or no white counts are signs of something more serious.

Source: Shelley Skellington-(Mother)