Page
Last updated
29.11.2004
My little Angel
Chaz before the accident
Please
help these little children!
Send a Comment about this page chaz@icon.co.za
Introduction
Hi - my name is Wally Da
Cruz chaz@icon.co.za from
This is our story
11 years ago (a
lifetime to us), we were your average family ( 3
healthy sons - Chaz aged 2 - Kayle aged 7 and Judd
aged 9 ) - financially independent with the normal problems every family has.
Then on
We had just arrived back from watching our
eldest sons football match and I had finished dishing up lunch (Chaz was
sitting under the dinning room table drinking his bottle), when I decided to go
to the lounge to see what sport was on the TV - Colleen my wife, came into the
lounge about 3 minutes later, and asked "Where is Chaz ? " I replied
"Under the dinning room table", so we went to the dining room to get
him but could not find him.
There was no problem as all the doors leading
out of the house were always closed because we had a pool on the property, and
therefore we thought he may be in one of his brother's rooms playing.(he had
only recently started walking!)
We started calling for him - Judd and Kayle answered back saying that Chaz was not in their rooms!
At that instant a gut wrenching panic hit me and I ran to the front door (the pool was in the back yard) and as I was half way down the stairs, I heard Judd scream, " Chaz is in the pool! "
I changed direction racing to the back of the house and saw this tiny little shape floating on top of the water, but with the head in the water motionless.
There can be
nothing worse in this world than a parent seeing their child like this!
I dived into the freezing water from the far
side of the oblong pool and lifted his water logged little body out of the
water into the waiting arms of his mother. (I will never forget how angelic he
looked)
We did CPR for 7 minutes before we got a heart beat, he was casavacked by
helicopter to the largest hospital in
Chaz had to be defibrillated during the flight
as his pulse stopped again, and was rushed into the emergency unit where 3
doctors and 2 interns started working on him.
There was not enough space in the helicopter to
take his mom an I, so we frantically jumped into the car and sped to the
hospital.
Before this tragic day I had not really been
the type of person that would go to church every Sunday, but because of my up
bringing, I had always believed in God and prayed privately to him and Christ
regularly, (it was tragically funny in that - just that morning I was said to
Colleen that we should be thankful for what we have 3 healthy, handsome boys.)
The drive to the hospital is just a blur, all I
remember was praying to God and asking him to keep our baby alive.
We got to the hospital and I immediately rushed
into the emergency room to find Chaz stripped of his clothing and wrapped in a
silver shinny heat blanket with heaters on both sides of his bed, with an
oxygen mask on his grey / blue little face.
He had a very shallow pulse and all the doctors could say was that it was touch and go if he was going to make it.
Something told me that if I don't take him to a
private hospital he would not make it.
Thank God the hospital did not have a bed for
him in the ICU and they transferred him by ambulance to a private hospital.
On arrival a emergency trauma specialist ( I am
sure God summoned him ) came from his house to handle Chaz.
We fought for his life from
He was in a coma for 7 months - I had left my
job so that I could be at his side 24 hr. a day.
On 4 occasions doctors tried to persuade us to
give it up and in fact stop treating him (passive euthanasia) –
I said under no circumstances and almost physically hit the doctor, for even mentioning the idea.
The doctors wanted to perform a tracheotomy, so
that they would stop tube feeding him via the nose and because of the chest
infections - again I said "NO.".
They wanted to cut his tendons in the back of
his legs because he had drop foot and that he would never walk again - I said
"NO."
Today Chaz has no
specialists, only our wonderful house doctor ( Dr Danie
Botha ) that has been sent us by God .
Judd, Kayle and
myself been looking after him at home, the marriage has ended up in divorce 3
years ago, when his mother left.
Chaz's Status
He is conscious and
is able to recognize us and is starting to be very verbal. ( we think he is
saying no )
He will pull away
from anything he does not like e.g. when we tube feed him , give him his nebuliser or anything associated with pain.
We have been told
that he may be blind but we don't really know.
If he does not like a
person he will visibly protest and in the early days would be able to get
himself into such a rage that he could spike a temperature of 40 degrees plus
in 20 minutes.
He would suffer from
lots of chest / lung infections - mainly from KLEBSELLA (although he is getting
stronger) –
The problem is that
we are still tube feeding him and must stimulate him to cough when we try to
get him to swallow orally -he fights us all the way and will try to spit it
out.
Physically he looks
very good with the exception for the his calf muscles that have just about
disappeared due to his very bad case of drop foot - he does move his feet, but
they are in permanent extension.
Chaz and boys in the early days
Medical Links that may assist (some may be out of date)
Here is a list if sites
(Mostly Medically orientated) that may be of some assistance. If you have
access to any other information that may help others, please send it to us here
at either
This is a page showing kids from the mailing list Our Kids.
http://www.driveninc.com/~jlyon/tbi.html
BRAIN INJURY PAGE http://www.tbilaw.com/
Neuroscience
brain head injury trauma stroke cognitive rehabilitation
MEDICAL MATRIX- GUIDE TO INTERNET MEDICAL
RESOURCES
Journal
of Cognitive Rehabilitation brain injury head injury stroke
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Med Web: Biomedical Internet Resources
OKQC - Services - Rehabilitation Services
Traumatic Brain Injury: Proving a Lifetime
Disability
Pharmaceutical Information Associates Home Page
Drug Database - by Trade Name (A)
The Brain Injury Association of Connecticut - Information
Disability
Resources from Evan Kemp Associates
The Option Institute: The Son-Rise Program(
PEDINFO Condition- or Disease-specific Info
After 11 years of searching for information in libraries, Universities, Medical
establishments and the INTERNET, I have not found a site that can give us
practical answers in laymen's terms for our situation.
So I have decided to set
up this web page, as a tribute to God and the fact that Chaz is a little
fighter, but also to try and get an informative site that we and other families
who will be going through the same ordeal are not in the same isolated
ignorance that we were forced to and still have to contend with every day.
I would like parents,
positive thinking members of the Medical Community, anyone who can offer help,
support or guidance on of the below mentioned subjects:
·
Coma. - It's affects - Drugs
& treatment of.
o
The effect - the care and
treatment of Trauma.
o
New drugs that may be
available or in testing and by who.
o
The dangers of prolonged use
of certain drugs currently prescribed.
o
More information in layman's
terms about Emg's - MRI's -
Cat Scans - Lung infections - Nutritional requirements for bedridden patients
o
Family support systems
o
How to handle trauma in the
family and with the patient.
o
Practical solutions on home
nursing - physiotherapy - psychiatric advise.
o
Sourcing of medical
equipment.
o
Acupuncture / Acupressure -
Natural Medicine.
o
Computer software for mental
stimulation or education.
o
Sources of Literature or
Medical papers / research.
o
Home Rehabilitation.
o
Reflexology.
o
Holistic Healing.
The
goal is that everyone can contribute and participate in building a practical
Web Page for the use of all.
To
use, learn and benefit from this type of calamity that could strike you or your
family tomorrow.
We are far from getting our baby back to normal, but we will never stop
doing everything in our power to get him there.
I would like to thank all those many people who have sent us emails and
messages of encouragement and prays.
May God Bless you and all those other near drowning little souls.
To Add to this Page
If you feel you can
contribute or offer other links, idea's , information
or add anything, then email this to us at chaz@icon.co.za and we will update
the page.