MILES FOR SMILES

Diagnosis: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)

Age at Diagnosis: 13 days old

Current Age: 4 years old

 

Denny's story, as told by his mother, Keisha:

 

Denny was just under 2 weeks old when he had to go to his primary care physician for breathing issues. Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which would cause cold-like symptoms, is life-threatening for newborns. As I was sitting in the doctor office, a new mom, overhearing people talking about how my baby was turning blue, I started to panic. Our doctor told us we would be riding the “bus”, aka the ambulance, to CHKD.

 

The CHKD first responders came and allowed me to ride with them to the hospital. The EMTs were understanding and amazing throughout the ride from Portsmouth to Norfolk. In the emergency room, they made us as comfortable as could be while we waited for a room in a packed hospital.

 

We were housed on the 7th floor and treated like family while we were there. The nurses answered any and all of our questions. They even gave Denny the nickname of “Hulk” because of how mad he would get when he would have to put his oxygen tubes back on. It would crack us up how every time one of the nurses came in Denny’s oxygen level would go up, but as soon as they left the room it would go back down.

 

Nursing was an issue and they provided me with a breast pump during our stay. We were also given an additional chair so both his dad and I could stay there night every night with him. We spent Christmas Eve and then Christmas day at CHKD. Thanks to donors there was an opportunity for the parents to fill a basket of gifts for their child, which was amazing because we had had no time to Christmas shop. Two days after Christmas, 8 days after being admitted, we were finally released and felt confident that our infant was going to be stronger than ever.

 

Since then, we have needed to go to the emergency room two more times and I always choose to go to CHKD over the closest hospital.