We became aware that donations are being made on the site. However, please note that currently, these donations are going directly to the CaringBridge Site, not to Akim. We have set up a GoFundMe account to accommodate those of you who have expressed an interest in donating to a fund for Akim's care. Please Click on the button "Ways to Help" icon above if you wish to donate to the fund for Akim's medical care.
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. Thank you for visiting.
Akim is a happy 14-year-old 9th grader. He is a freshman at Newton South High School. He loves running and runs track and cross country. On Saturday, April 28th, Akim shared he was experiencing chest pain and was also noted to have a fever. That morning Akim was taken to a community hospital on the South Shore. He was discharged from there to rest, drink plenty of fluids, and take some Motrin. As the day progressed into the evening night of April 28th, Akim was rushed to Boston Children’s Hospital. At this point, Akim’s symptoms and signs increased with shortness of breath, chest pain, increased respiratory rate, low oxygen level. Akim was brought emergently to the cardiac intensive care unit. A cardiac ultrasound was done and revealed pericardial effusion. At this time, Akim was breathing fast, his blood pressure was low, and his heart rate was fast. A breathing tube was placed and connected to a breathing machine to help Akim with his breathing. Blood pressure medicines were given to Akim to support his blood pressure. Heart medicines were given to support his heart. Akim was given medications to sedate him and paralyze him to rest him to allow the life support machine to do the work. The team was looking at 2 diagnoses - cardiomyopathy or acute myocarditis.
On Sunday night, April 29th, Akim continued to be in critical condition. His blood pressure dropped and his heart rate dropped very low to the point where the team initiated CPR doing compressions. Thankfully, Akim had a perfusable rhythm. Akim recovered. At this time, it was decided to place Akim on a system called ECMO heart-lung machine. Akim was taken to the cath lab. At that time, the team examined the pressures in his heart and looked at the major blood vessels around his heart. They discovered the pressures in his heart were really high. Akim already had a small hole (PFO) in his heart so the team made the hole a little bigger to help decrease the pressures in his heart. Thankfully at the time, there was no blockage to any of his major arteries around the heart. Akim was brought back to the unit and remained stable after that. However, Akim’s heart function was really weak. A normal Ejection fraction (heart function) is 55-65% and Akim’s heart function is 20%.
Akim has been diagnosed with acute myocarditis (proven by biopsy) and heart failure. Akim was on life support; was on the breathing machine and ECMO, the heart lung machine; had an left ventricular assist device placed; and received a heart transplant on June 27, 2018. We continue to ask for your prayers as Akim remains in critical condition.
Today is a very emotional day for all of us. Akim graduates from High School today at 5pm. Many of you have been with us along this journey and we wanted to share this news with you. We are so thankful to God for His goodness. We are so filled with gratitude and joy. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. The livestream link for graduation is below.
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