Young Jasperite Fights For Life at Hospital

(Editor’s Note: The following was written by Lisa Simmons, the grandmother of Audrey Remington Mishell Hegwood, “Remi”, about her granddaughter’s health struggle.)

On Saturday October 6th “Remi” was taken to Jasper Memorial Hospital where Dr. Matthew Warren and Nurse Shana Stubbs gave her excellent care. Lauren Atkinson was the tech at the time.

I believe the doctor had his suspicion of what might be wrong with Remi but wanted to get another opinion.

He made the lifesaving call to Children’s Hospital of Atlanta Egleston or CHOA and together they came up with a plan of action.

Remi got a blood test done and it came back that her hemoglobin was at five which means that she had five units of blood in her body. The average for a child of her age of 2 1/2 should be 11.5 to 13.5 units with the mean of 12.5 units. We were told that CHOA was sending what they called “the bus” for Remi.

We were a little confused because we were making plans to take her where ever they said she need to go but decided to go with it. The Pediatric/Neonatal Critical Transportation vehicle arrived and reality set in. Just a reminder that this Sunday we will have a congregational BREAKFAST at 9:30 a.m.

You won’t do better than this anywhere in town!

Remi was loaded onto a stretcher and her mom, Ashley Hegwood, road up front to the hospital while “Papa Lee” took Remi’s brother, Hayden home and I followed to the hospital. Remi was admitted to the Emergency Room at CHOA and blood work was done again.

This time her blood count was at 4.7 units. Lots of things were happening—x-rays, doctors and nurses were coming in and out but it seemed to be a blur. We were told that a specialist was being called in to review the blood work and she would be in to talk to us soon. That seemed to take forever but a little after midnight a nice young lady arrived and told us that she was pretty sure from all the tests done that Remi had leukemia.

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Our world seemed to stop. Ashley cried and I couldn’t cry because I was holding Remi but I did hug her tight. Most of what the doctor said was a blah, blah, blah but I do remember her saying that she would need to run further tests to determine the kind of leukemia B or T.

Remi was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit or PICU on Sunday morning, Oct. 7 about 1a.m. By daylight Sunday more tests were given and her hemoglobin was at 4.2 units. She received four blood transfusions followed by platelets Sunday through Tuesday and chemo treatments started. On Tuesday, Oct. 9th about 10 p.m. she was transferred to the Aflac floor. The Aflac floor is where kids with cancer and blood disorders stay. The rooms are nice and parents are allowed to stay with their child. The floor also has a play room and a family room with a TV, kitchen area. A few nights of the week different organizations provide meals for families on the Aflac floor.

The plan was for her to stay two weeks on the Aflac floor during the induction phase (29 days) for chemo treatments then go home and come back two times a week for two more weeks for the rest of the induction phase. Well that didn’t happen because on Monday, Oct. 22nd they weren’t sure they wanted her to go home and decided to let her stay one more day and we are sure glad they did. Remi spiked a fever so that meant she had to stay the entire 29 days of the induction period for this type of leukemia treatment.

On Tuesday, Oct. 23rd she was readmitted to the PICU due to vomiting, severe diarrhea, and a fever. While Ashley was changing Remi on Wednesday, Oct. 24th (this is also Remi’s brother Hayden’s birthday) she noticed a black spot on Remi’s bottom which turned out to be a severe infection. Remi was sedated and placed on a breathing machine in order for her to receive an MRI. Doctors wanted to make sure the infection had not spread inwards.

Doctors decided that surgery was needed to remove the infected tissue. This was done on Thursday, Oct. 25th the same day that we had Hayden’s birthday party at the hospital. We had planned to have a big party on October 20th but that had to be canceled. Surgery went well and Hayden had a great birthday with both sets of grandparents Papa Lee and Mimi Lisa, Papa Randal and Granny Nita and his Aunt Lexi. There were several people that reached out and gave Hayden a birthday gift on his birthday and that meant so much to our family and Hayden.

Remi stayed in the PICU for four more days then they transferred her back to the Aflac floor on Monday Oct. 29th. Ashley was not happy with the decision but they did it anyway. A mother knows her child the best because on Tuesday, Oct. 30th she was transferred back to the PICU for breathing difficulty and a fever. Remi was put on a nasal breathing tube then a CPAP mask for breathing but nothing was working so as a last result she was sedated and paralyzed and placed on an oscillator to breath for her.

I received the most frightening call from Ashley on Wednesday, Oct. 31st at 6:20 a.m. The doctors were calling all family to the hospital Remi was in critical condition. Remi tried to leave us twice that day once that morning and later on that day with a total organ failure but both time she returned. As of today November 3rd, she is stable and holding her own but still on the oscillator and blood dialysis.

(The update on Tuesday was that they will try to take her off dialysis, and they will work on weaning her off the ventilator. The last update was positive.)