Emma Nickey

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. 
Emma was born 10 weeks prematurely at St. Vincent hospital in Green Bay on July 13, 2017 weighing 3lbs. At 12 days old, Emma contacted Group B Streptococcal Meningitis. Emma had spinal meningitis, a pocket of meningitis on her brain, and sepsis. She was intubated and has been fighting hard for her life since. 
Through the first weeks of meningitis she was in critical condition, was on a ventilator for respiratory failure, had hundreds of seizures, was sensitive to sounds, voices, and light, and had unstable vitals for weeks. She went over a week without any nasal gastric tube feedings to allow the antibiotics to work as quick and strong as possible. She dropped down to 2.5 lbs. 
On August 9th an MRI indicated a large abscess was on the top right side down to the back of her brain, several pockets of fluid were found, and the sad reality that pressure on her brain had caused more damage. She was transferred to Children's hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee the following day and was in surgery the morning after her arrival. She is still being treated with antibiotics for the meningitis bacteria for the cyst on her brain.. Her status is that she still has two larger pockets of fluid on her brain: 1 - a cyst with group B streptococcal meningitis bacteria and 2 - hydrocephalus; a build up of fluid in the brain - which is actually cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. This excessive accumulation of CSF results in an abnormal widening of spaces in the brain called ventricles. A large portion of Emma's brain is damaged indefinitely and her surgery was an performed on an emergency basis because the widening created harmful pressure on the remaining healthy brain tissue.  


Thank you for visiting.