86 | HealthLinksSC.com A Unique Case: RSV: TEAMWORK LEADS TO RECOVERY THE LIAM ROBERTSON STORY By Katherine Waters In late August, just a bit before Labor Day, the Robertson family celebrated its son Liam’s first birthday. Like most toddlers at that age, Liam is “very active. … he’s very strong. He’s walking everywhere now” according to his father, Cory. “He loves books, he loves balls, he loves playing with cars. He’s enamored with his sister.” But a little less than a year ago, the Robertsons were wondering if they would ever get to this point. At around 6 weeks old, Liam contracted respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, after his sister got sick at a day-care facility. RSV is a common virus that causes cold-like symptoms and typically lasts for a week or two in healthy children and adults. But for certain groups, like older adults, people with pre-existing medical conditions and infants, RSV can become much more severe, potentially inflaming the airways and leading to pneumonia. “We almost had to rush into the emergency room a couple of nights because Liam had a high fever,” said Cory Robertson. “And then it seemed to move into his chest, and he had a hard time breathing. As soon as we noticed that he was laboring to breathe, we took him to an urgent care right away. They treated him a little bit and said to monitor him closely that night, which we did, but it didn't really go away. And so the next morning we took him right to the children's hospital emergency room, where we were admitted and told we would be staying for a bit.” Liam’s condition had progressed quickly from what initially seemed like a simple childhood illness. The first night in the hospital, he went from requiring a little help with extra oxygen to being intubated and put on a ventilator. The doctors were concerned that his illness could lead to lung failure or cardiac arrest. Cory and his wife juggled staying at the hospital with their infant son and taking care of their daughter at home. Liam spent another eight nights at MUSC’s Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, in intensive care for most of that time. Cory said the health care staff went beyond just caring for Liam, giving the entire family the attention they needed during their stay. “Once he was able to start slowly progressing, we felt confident he was going to be OK and get better, but it was definitely very scary there for the first couple of days. And he was just laying there sleeping on a ventilator – it was horrible,” Cory added. “But he had good care. The doctors were wonderful; the nurses were amazing. They took good care of us. They explained everything. They tried to keep us aware of what was going on, and he slowly improved and got better and better.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjcyNTM1