Welcome to "Living Healthy Chicago."
I'm Jane Monzures.
We're starting today's show talking about family health.
Now there's nothing more important to parents
than making sure their children are happy and healthy.
And that can mean following your instincts and seeking help
when something seems off with their health.
This next family is sharing their story
in hopes of raising awareness.
(ukulele strumming)
Cooper Walters has a lot of interests
you might expect from a teenage boy.
- I play guitar, ukulele,
I might try out for some sports teams at my high school.
- [Jane] But it wasn't long ago
that he was far from focused on enjoying those things,
thanks to a health scare.
- I had a sore throat, I was really tired, body aches,
I just really didn't feel good.
- Weren't sure if it was strep throat,
or the doctor thought perhaps mono.
- [Jane] Cooper's parents took him to see his doctor,
but it was just a few weeks later
that his health took a more serious turn.
- He started vomiting and vomiting.
My husband decided that it was time
we take him to the ER and have him checked out.
- [Jane] Once they got to the hospital,
Cooper began to feel even worse.
- I was really lightheaded, I was dizzy.
Screaming like my stomach was like filling up.
It felt really weird, I couldn't explain it.
And I felt like I was gonna pass out.
And from there, it just went black.
- The machines flat lined,
and I can't even explain the pain and sorrow
of watching your child basically die in front of you.
I felt like my heart was gonna stop beating.
- He was very very ill when he came in.
Right away we were concerned with sepsis or septic shock,
an infection that was brewing somewhere.
- [Jane] As his doctors revived him,
they also began to piece together what was going on.
- He was septic from the appendicitis.
Sepsis, it's an over-reaction or over-exaggeration
of that immune response that the body has
that ends up leading to organ dysfunction,
and if not recognized early,
sepsis can lead from mild to severe pretty quickly.
For Cooper's case,
definitely he lands in the category of severe.
Early recognition and early treatment
is the key to surviving sepsis.
- They did a scan and saw
that his appendix had indeed ruptured
and he needed to go into emergency surgery.
- The appendix, they quickly took it out.
In the operating room,
he had another event where his heart rate dropped.
At this point, it was decided that we do ECMO.
It does both the work of your heart and your lungs
when they're not working appropriately.
- [Jane] With that help,
Cooper slowly improved over the next several days.
- He came off ECMO, the breathing tube came out.
- [Jane] Cooper says what helped keep him calm
as the machines helped his body recover
was the support of his loved ones.
- I just knew I wasn't alone.
Support really made a difference.
- [Jane] Cooper spent almost two weeks in the hospital
before being well enough to go home.
After some additional follow-up care and recovery time,
he eventually began to feel like himself again.
- It's like a dream come true.
I've worked so hard to be able to do it.
I feel 100%, I'm fine.
Can do everything I could before.
- [Jane] Cooper, his family, and Dr. Padilla
hopes his story helps spread awareness about sepsis.
- The take home message is
early recognition and early treatment.
If you feel like your child doesn't look well,
they're having fevers, high fevers,
something about them is making you
feel like something's wrong, seek medical attention.
It's not to pose any panic.
If you feel like something's going on, seek medical care.
- Go with your gut instincts.
Better to be wrong and have your kid be perfectly fine
than to wait until it's too late.
- You're not alone, ever.
You have people to help you and you can't forget that.
You have to just keep trying.