Will's Story
by Rob Carter, his dad.
Will
Will was attending Creation Fest at The Gorge Amphitheater in late July. On the last day of the festival, Saturday, July 26th, around 10:30-11 p.m., he began experiencing chest pains while in the mosh pit listening and dancing to the band The News Boys. Will found his way to the medical team and told the doctor what he was experiencing. The doctor told Will to go to the tent and lie down and he would check him.
As Will approached the tent, he collapsed and experienced a seizure. The EMT crew and doctor loaded him into an ambulance and routed him to Quincey Medical Center, along with Kelly Parker, his youth group leader. While in transit, Will went into cardiac arrest and needed to be restrained and intubated for CPR. Quincey Medical Center needed to life flight Will to Spokane to Sacred Heart Medical Center because they did not have an adequate facility to deal with this type of emergency.
Will's parents were notified by Kelly while Will was being transported to Quincy. At that time, no one knew how bad it was or where Will would end up. Seattle and Spokane considered. While in Quincy Medical Center, they decided Sacred Heart Medical Center was the best plan.
Kelly called Crystal and said Will was being flown to Spokane, Wash. Rob and Crystal drove through the night and arrived around 8 a.m. Sunday morning. Only after arriving and consulting with doctors did Will's parents realize how serious their son's condition was. Through the day on Sunday, Will's heart was laboring to sustain his life. The doctors forced to give his heart pressors to keep it going.
In the afternoon, Dr. Jensen came to tell Will's parents that he probably would not make it through the night without installing a balloon pump to help his heart. They proceeded immediately to install this pump through his carotid artery. A couple hours after the balloon pump was inserted, the doctor came back and told Rob and Crystal it was not enough and Will’s heart was responding to the pressors. The only option left was to open Will up and install a vertical assist device, a mechanical device to help pump his blood through his body.
While in surgery, Dr. Jensen met with Rob and Crystal to discuss the probable cause of Will's condition after looking at the images of Will's heart. He suspected a congenital defect, which was confirmed during the surgery and was repaired at that time. The doctor was astonished when he was told about Will's past history and the problem was not detected at that time.
After the surgery, Dr. Icenogle, who was one of the two surgeons, came to talk to the family in the waiting room and explained how everything went. The surgery was successful and installation of the VADs system went well. He explained how much damage had been done to the heart. More probably than not, if his mental condition deemed it, a permanent mechanical device would have to be installed to help the heart pump.
At about 3 a.m. that next morning, Will had some complications and they had to open him back up. They found some bleeding and cauterized the leaks. While Dr. Icenogle was still inside the chest cavity, he lifted up the heart and looked at the damaged area and found it had already started showing signs of regeneration (Praise God!).
The next day, his color had returned and he looked much better. The doctors were worried about the swelling in the brain and thought they might have to cut Will’s skull open to relieve the swelling, but at last look, the swelling had started to come down.
The next few days Will continued to improve. He started to breathe on his own and his heart continued to get stronger. After about a week, the doctors removed the VADs system and found Will's heart had recovered to near 100 percent (Praise God for such a miracle).
In the next few days, they were able to remove his chest tubes and the ventilator.
Will's condition continued to improve in the next weeks, although they found damage when an MRI was done on his brain. The neurologist was hopeful that Will could recover to some point, but no one but God Himself knows how far or how long it will take.
After six weeks at Sacred Heart Hospital, Will was transported to Providence Children's Center in Portland, Ore., whole lot closer to home Since Will has been in Portland, he has made a few improvements. He responds to voice commands by looking and making eye contact. Physical therapists have checked with Will and said he has responded to commands a few times.
Will was taken to an E.N.T doctor to look at removing his tracheotomy. The doctor installed a smaller trach to allow him to breath past it. Will is now breathing past the capped trach and may be able to have it removed around the 1st of October. Now, as he is able to breathe past the trach, it enables Will to be vocal when he gets agitated and pains from gas and/or muscle spasms. This agitation and pain come and go, and he sometimes needs pain medication to help relieve the hurt.
As Will progresses, the plan is to get him to a rehab facility for retraining of his speech and motor skills. The family is also looking into hyperbaric chamber treatments to help his brain recover.
Karen A. Stanek, MD, PhD, of Northwest Medical Rehabilitation, P.S., writes,
"William has suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury and is globally impaired. Part of his rehabilitation plan should include hyperbaric oxygen treatments. I would recommend that he receive an initial 40 hyperbaric oxygen treatments at 1.5 ATA as soon as possible. I anticipate that further oxygen treatments will be needed. I am Medical Director of a hyperbaric center in Spokane, Washington, and have seen excellent results. These include a decrease in tone, increased alertness and cognitive improvement."
Since these treatments are considered experimental, they are not covered by insurance. A fund has been set up at any US Bank under Will Carter's Donation to help cover Will's treatment. Please pray for Will & his family.
God has worked on Will, his family and many, many friends in so many ways already.