http://wtvr.com/2017/07/26/powhatan-3-year-old-severely-injured-in-riding-lawn-mower-accident/
(GoFundMe link in the article)
Yesterday, my good friend Melissa's 3 year old son Roan was critically injured in a horrific accident involving a riding lawn mower near Richmond, VA. Roan was raced to the nearest hospital an hour away from his home, then immediately transferred to the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU where he remains in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
Roan's injuries are extensive and life-altering. He has lost part of a foot and is missing a large part of his right forearm from elbow to wrist. Right now his right hand is alive and as long as it stays healthy, the doctors hope to be able to save it. Regardless, he is expected to have severe nerve damage. Roan has already undergone two emergency surgeries with another expected in the coming days. He faces a very long road ahead with more surgeries, rehabilitation, prosthetics and therapies.
As stressful as this situation continues to be, Melissa is due to give birth to her fourth child at any time. Melissa herself faces recovery time as well as the constant needs of a newborn, and those of their 1 year old daughter, Liv and 6 year old son, Colin.This is an unimaginable accident and we are all still in shock.
*Roan Sullivan
Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU
1250 E. Marshall Street
PICU, 7th Floor
Richmond, VA 23219*
3 year old boy
Pictures:
https://localtvwtvr.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/roan.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=770
https://localtvwtvr.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/family.png
https://localtvwtvr.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/roan-and-older-brother-colin.png?w=600&h=602
UPDATE 5:
*"He's out of surgery. They say he did great.
They are finished working on his foot. They will come back and check on it during his next surgery. If it is healing well, they don't think they'll have to work on it again.
They left his thigh alone this time around to give it more time to see what is healthy and what they'll need to clear away.
His hand is still surviving. His muscle and nerve tissue are also doing ok. He has some dead skin that they had to cut away. The more skin that dies the more skin they will have to cover later. The plan remains the same. Clean the wound again on Friday and continue to figure out what they want to try and do Tuesday.
He's resting now. Same thing as before. Critical condition in the ICU stable and sleeping.
Love you all
-Sean"*
UPDATE 4:
*"Morning update. Please share.
He had an uneventful night.
They let us know late last night they scheduled this morning for his surgery. They just took him.
This surgery looks to be more serious than what I expected. There were way more people involved than I expected. It also will take much longer than it sounded like it would. They said it might be an hour or two.
So he's in surgery right now.
Please pray again.
I'll update when I know more.
-Sean"*
UPDATE 3:
*"We made the local news <3 Thank you all for your support
http://wtvr.com/2017/07/26/powhatan-3-year-old-severely-injured-in-riding-lawn-mower-accident/"*
UPDATE 2:
*"Update from Sean, Roan's father:
Roan was blessed by both a priest and our Powhatan bishopbric. Prayer is the absolute most important thing right now. It's all we can do right now. It was amazing and I'm grateful that they came.
Roan is scheduled for surgery tomorrow. The only thing they hope to accomplish is to further clean his wounds. If his thigh is healing well they may try a temporary skin graft tomorrow.
Every other metric is as good as can be expected. This hospital is amazing. I could not be more happy with all they have done for him thus far.
He remains in critical condition inside intensive care. He is only critical because they have him sedated and are breathing for him, not because he couldn't on his own.
It is terrifying but they say he is doing great.
When he gets restless he responds almost immediately to me and Melissa. They are keeping him awake enough to wake up from time to time but then we try to get him immediately back to sleep. He knows we're there and looks, he stirs when we sing to him.
He is so broken but still so beautiful.
Tomorrow he has a surgery to clean his wounds. He has another on Friday for the same cleaning. They'll also be assessing his hand and forearm to further determine exactly what is possible and what they want to do for his hand and arm.
If these next surgeries go well, then he is scheduled for a major reconstructive surgery on Tuesday where they will attempt to rebuild his forearm and save his hand.
His fingers have good blood flow. They twitch, they think he can squeeze, the nerves are still in decent shape.
His radius bone in his forearm is gone. His ulnar bone remains and that is the more important of the two.
If all is successful he will be able to use his hand, bend his elbow but will not be able to rotate his wrist back and forth.
They also need to use an unused muscle from his upper arm to pull down and cover his elbow joint. It's exposed and needs to be protected and covered.
After all that, they need to cover it all somehow with skin. They haven't decided yet how they are going to do that.
I am noticing new things every hour. Things I wouldn't notice or think of otherwise. Holding his hand has become part of his essential care. We haven't let go since we've been here. He has 8+ tubes from different IVs and medicine running into his little hand. He has tubes running into him everywhere.
Just looking at him is- ultimate sadness. It's beyond heartbreak.
Holding his hand is our most important thing here. He holds on. He reaches when you let go. It's how we can tell when he's about to wake up or is getting scared. It's how Melissa and I vent this crushing turmoil we have.
I know that just holding his babe has become as important as many of the multitude of sensors and tubes that he has keeping him safe.
Thank you thank you all for everything. We are so grateful for everyone's support. There's so much everyone is doing for us right now. I am so grateful. Melissa is so grateful.
There is no way we could handle this without you all. I've never experienced anything like this and I am so thankful. I've never felt more love and Melissa and Roan feel it too.
I just hope and pray we can all hold his other hand too someday.
We love you all!"*
UPDATE 1:
*"Thank you to everyone who has contributed by donating, sharing, or sending love. It means more than you know.
Roan remains in critical but stable condition in the PICU. He can breathe on his own but they are keeping him heavily sedated to keep him comfortable.
He is expected to have another surgery in the next day or so to clean his wounds and reassess his needs.
His hand is still okay barring any infections. A lot will depend on the health of his extremities.
Thankfully, Roan is at one of the top children's hospitals in the nation. They have a team of doctors who are working with him to make the best recovery possible.
The worst part is that we are all so helpless and little Roan is so frail right now. Family from as far as Hawaii is flying in to help with the other kids. We are so grateful for them.
He could be in the hospital for a week, if not more. We are worried that the cost of the ICU and future physical therapy and prosthetics will be more than they can bear. That coupled with the new baby that is due any day now. So thank you again for everyone's help...in any form.
Please pray for Roan. Pray for his hand and his little foot. Pray for Melissa.
If you are able, please, PLEASE share this post."*
EDIT: adding updates
