Please pray for our little boy

I'm not sure how many people the news about Taye has reached so far. We've done our best to call as many people as we can but this blog is the best way to reach everyone.

Yesterday morning, while I was watching Taye at home he accidentally rolled off our bed and hit his head on the carpeted floor. After some drowsiness and throwing up I took him to our pediatrician. He checked out normal and was very alert and happy while we were at the doctor. After returning home, things seemed to take a turn for the worse. He continuously fell asleep and woke only to throw up. We then took him to the emergency room at Troy Beaumont Hospital thinking that we were dealing with a concussion. After some initial tests checked out normal, they recommended a CT scan...immediately after the test everything changed. The doctors came urgently into our room and told us there was a huge emergency. The CT scan showed a large hematoma (blood leak) in Taye's brain. They gave us a very, very grim outlook for him. They immediately went to intubate him and indicated that he needed brain surgery as soon as possible. Unfortunately, there was no neurosurgeon at that hospital. They ordered a medevac helicopter to transport him to Royal Oak Beaumont. This was the worst feeling Joanna and I have had in our entire lives. As we waited for the helicopter and prayed over Taye, my dad baptized him in the ER. Then he was whisked away in the helicopter, while we followed in a vehicle.

By the time we arrived here, he was already in surgery. After about an hour, they came and said that they successfully drained the blood and found the source of the bleed. He's been on a ventilator and sedation meds ever since. It was a long night for Joanna and I to say the least. This morning, another CT scan showed that the brain (which had been very compressed by the blood) was back to a more normal size. Also, it showed some areas of the brain which may have been damaged. There are some good signs though...he's moving his arms and legs (the left side more than the right), he does have a cough and gag reflex and his kidneys seem to be working properly.

The hematoma was large enough to significantly push the left side of his brain and shift everything. We just found out tonight that there was some damage to the left side of his brain as a result of this pressure and shift. It's just way too early to tell exactly what this means. The initial indication is that there will be some lagging motor skills on his right side.

Tomorrow is a big day as they will be removing the breathing tube from Taye to see if he can breathe on his own. We're optimistic that this will go well. Through this entire ordeal he has shown a lot of fight and spunk. Tomorrow will probably be a rough day since Taye will be more awake and aware of what is going on and will be pretty agitated. But, it will be good if we can get another tube removed from his body (today he had two removed - a drain tube from his skull and a urine catheter).

As for the cause of this, it's been called by most doctors a "fluke". There is no way that a small fall like that on to a padded surface should have done this. It appears that the fall caused a small fracture in Taye's skull exactly at the point an artery was inside. The artery was nicked and caused the bleeding.

If you're hearing about this for the first time here, this story may seem unbelievable and surreal...Joanna and I felt exactly the same way as we were in the middle of the chaos yesterday. Right now we'll continue to need all the prayers we can get. Prayer has got us a long way in the past couple days and we feel blessed that we've made it this far. The road ahead will likely be long but we continue to hope for positive results.