Joshua Roy

On Oct 13th 2019, my 13 year old son, Josh became very ill; only complaining of a sore throat and fever the day prior. Josh went unresponsive in our home, an ambulance came and took him to the closest hospital where the doctor immediately intubated him and sent him on a helicopter to Riley Hospital for Children.

The outlook seemed to be grim. Josh’s diagnoses was influenza b, necrotizing staph pneumonia, viral myocarditis, and septic shock. (Sepsis and Influenza, Sepsis and Pneumonia, Sepsis and Viral Infections, Sepsis and Septic Shock) Our boy wasn’t expected to live.

The night he arrived at Riley he was placed on VA ECMO [life support], he was now in heart failure. I’ve never felt so helpless, my baby was sick and I couldn’t fix him. Josh’s heart seemed to be improving after about a week but his lungs were horrible he was later switched to VV ECMO. Josh spent a total of 54 days on ECMO, he ended up getting a tracheostomy. During those 54 days he suffered multiple complications including seizures, a pericardial effusion, cardiac arrest, and multiple other things. Josh shocked everyone with his recover and is truly a miracle, he came home one his 100th day! Sepsis had entered our lives and made it a living hell, unfortunately on April 17th my dad, Josh’s grandfather lost his life to sepsis. He was incredibly proud of Josh and his fight as we all are.

Source: Juanita Roy (mother)