Monday 2/14

Ian was struck in the heart by a baseball at early morning practice. His heart was bruised and went into arythmia which caused him to have a siezure. For a period of time his heart was irregular and he had no pulse.

When EMS arrived they used shock treatment and medicine and then put him in the ambulance. They took him to POH Trauma Unit in Pontiac. They stabilized Ian and then transported him to Children's Hospital in Detroit. Ian is in PICU. We are hopeful that the actions of his coach and EMS kept blood flowing until his pulse returned. Ian's vital signs are good. His heart is beating regularly on its own and they expect the bruise to heal naturally. Our biggest concern is that he went a while without a pulse. So the concern is the condition of his brain. One positive sign is that his other organs are all showing good function and his blood work is good. This means that lack of oxygen did not seriously damage his other organs. He is showing no signs of seizures now.

Ian is being treated with hypothermia. This means they are cooling his body and keeping him sedated for 48 hours. This approach has been shown to provide better chance of brain healing in adults. The treatment for children is experimental. Ian is in a clinical trial for this treatment. We are in the second day of the 48 hour chilling treatment. This means Ian is sedated and quiet for at least another day. It is important that he is not agitated and is allowed to rest. Wednesday or Thursday they will start to raise his body temperature and at some point they will decrease the sedation. At that point we will know what level of function he has and can start to consider visitors.

Please pray for Ian. For those of you that don't know Ian well, he is a kind a gentle soul. He loves his family and friends. He loves hockey and baseball and is an excellent student. Ian has had to battle through adversity in his life, so we know he has it in him. We are very hopeful that he will fight through this and get back to what he loves.