Welcome to our CaringBridge site. We've created it to keep friends and family updated. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement during this time when it matters most.
On Monday, February 22, 2016, Taylor "Tay" (4 years old) became extremely ill, and is currently in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the San Diego Naval Medical Center.
Both Anthony, and Melissa have been overwhelmed with the amount of family and friends that have been reaching out to them to express their love, concern, and support for Taylor and their situation. Anthony and Melissa have been so grateful for everyone's concern and support. They have been trying to respond to as many of the text messages, emails, and phone calls as possible, but obviously they have also been trying to focus on Taylor and hospital staff.
As much as Melissa and Anthony want to respond to everyone, they both feel bad because they have not been able to respond to everyone. My wife and I have suggested to Anthony and Melissa to focus on Taylor, and his medical care. We asked them if we could assist by starting up a CaringBridge website for them as a way to keep everyone updated on Taylor's condition as information becomes available. In addition to that, we also started this gofundme account in order to help them offset some of the added, or extra expenses Anthony and Melissa will encounter during Taylor's long road to recovery.
Just a brief version of how Taylor's situation began; last Monday (February 22nd), Taylor began complaining of a headache and wasn't feeling well. He developed a fever, and started to become lethargic. It didn't take long and Taylor began to fall in and out of consciousness. Anthony and Melissa took Taylor to the Emergency Room and once admitted, they gave Taylor a CT Scan. The scan was inconclusive and physicians then sedated Taylor, put him on Morphine, and prepped him for a two-hour MRI. Physicians stated they wanted to rule out Meningitis, but we're concerned about performing a Lumbar Puncture until they knew the pressure of fluids in his spine were safe to insert a needle. Doctor's believed Taylor possibly had Obstructed Hydrocephalus (which means something blocking or interfering with the Cerebral Fluid). Doctors were able to confirm Taylor does have high pressure and tissue swelling in his brain, and low fluid pressure in his spine.
The MRI results did show two masses in Taylor's spine, but were not able to determine what exactly they were with the type of MRI that was taken, so an additional MRI was ordered to focus on the masses in the spine.
After the second MRI, it was decided Taylor needed to go into surgery to drain the excess fluid in Taylor's head to relieve the pressure, and offer some pain relief to Taylor. After the procedure, it was stated by the surgeon that Taylor had three times the amount of fluid as the average child drained from his head, but thankfully the procedure was successful, and Taylor is currently resting. Some of the fluid was also sent in for additional testing. The physicians have now ruled out Meningitis, and are now running tests for Tuberculosis, and Valley Fever, but with the number of masses found in the spine, the hospital's main concern is now the possability of Lymphoma Cancer.
Anthony and Melissa obviously have not left Taylor's side, but unfortunately Taylor's hospital room is not set up to accommodate additional people. Melissa has resorted to sleeping in a chair next to Taylor's bed, and Anthony has been sleeping in a chair in the hospital Waiting Room. Currently Anthony is the sole financial provider for the family, and has been serving our country as a Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corp, since 2005. In addition to that, Taylor is extremely excited to soon be a big brother to a new baby sister on the way (to be named: Terra Rose Jefferis). Melissa is 23 weeks pregnant and is due on June, 18, 2016.
Hospital staff have told Anthony and Melissa that they can expect Taylor's stay at the hospital to be at minimum a couple of weeks (possibly longer). If you are in a position to assist the Jefferis family relieve some of the extra financial burden they will encounter, I'm sure they would be extremely grateful (no matter what the dollar amount may be). For updates to Taylor's condition, you can follow Taylor's story (along with Anthony and Melissa), here at Taylor's Caring Bridge website. Please also visit Taylor's gofundme page at
https://www.gofundme.com/vhr33ktp.My husband (Scott) is currently setting up Taylor's Gofund me account at the same time I am setting up this Caring Bridge site , so if you have difficulty finding the Gofundme site, please be patient. It will be up and running shortly.
Thank you on behalf of Anthony and Melissa Jefferis,
Scott and Heidi Buegler.
