According to his parents, Edgar and Catalina Uribe, Matias Uribe is a healthy 14-year-old looking forward to his freshman year of high school, during which he joined the cross-country team and played the piano. He said he intended to continue.
Things changed in late June, when Mathias developed flu-like symptoms, including a high fever.
“His body was red and he had a bit of a rash. [doctors] “They said it was because of a high fever,” Edgar Uribe told “Good Morning America,” noting that he took Mattia to the doctor twice, “and it lasted about four or five days.” he said.
At the end of June, Mathias’ condition deteriorated rapidly, so his parents took him to the local emergency room.
There, they were told his flu had worsened to pneumonia and he was suffering from hypoxia, a condition in which his body was not receiving enough oxygen. Shortly after, Mathias, who had no pre-existing health conditions, went into cardiac arrest.
“He suddenly went into cardiac arrest and was in cardiac arrest for about six minutes,” Edgar Uribe recalled. “We were asked to leave the room. The doctors all rushed into the room and tried to take his vital signs.”
Once doctors were able to revive Matthias, he was airlifted from a local hospital outside of Nashville, Tennessee, to a larger hospital. From there, he had to be transferred again to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, where he received the most critical treatment.
For the next two weeks, Mathias was intubated and placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenator known as an ECMO machine. This device removes carbon dioxide from the blood and pumps oxygenated blood back into the body, pumping the blood throughout the body to give the heart and lungs time to rest and heal.
Edgar Uribe recalled that doctors told him they didn’t know if Matias would survive, and if he did, what kind of brain function he would have.
He and his wife, who are also parents to a 9-year-old son named Nicholas, said it was a game of waiting “every second” to see what would happen to their eldest son.
“Every day you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” Edgar Uribe said. “It was really tough, especially with Nicholas. He’s nine years old and he’s his best friend.”
Dr. Katie BoyleMatthias, a pediatrician and co-leader of Matthias’ medical team at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, said Matthias started with a diagnosis of influenza, but developed bacterial pneumonia with invasive streptococcal infection as a complication of the flu. He said his health condition rapidly deteriorated. .
According to Boyle, Matthias evolved from there. Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome and septic shock.
Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome is a severe immune reaction to toxins released by bacteria, resulting in a lack of oxygenated blood supply to tissues and organs. Sepsis is the body’s response to infection that can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Boyle, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Medicine at Vanderbilt’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, said both conditions are rare, especially in healthy teens like Matthias.
“Mostly [the cases] “It’s seen in patients who have immune system problems or are taking medications that cause immune system problems,” Boyle said.
Regarding Matthias, she added: “Having had the flu, he could have contracted a bacterial infection, but it’s still fairly rare to get an infection this serious. In his case, it seems like he had an immune response to the bacteria. It was overwhelming.”
Despite the unexpected, Mattias’ parents noticed his first movements within a week of being placed in intensive care on life support.
“I noticed that he started moving his shoulders and I told the doctors,” Catalina Uribe said, noting that doctors began testing him to see if he would respond. did. “They tried to tell him, ‘Matthias, can you hear me?’ and I started yelling at him, ‘Matthias, show me you’re here. Matthias, you. Show them you’re here.’
“Then he started moving his whole body. It was a beautiful moment for us,” she continued.
Matthias’ parents and doctors later discovered that even though Matthias had been in cardiac arrest for six minutes, he had not lost any brain function, a discovery they all described as a miracle.
Finding a new normal in life as an amputee
But further hurdles loom as it becomes clear that cutting off blood flow to Mattias’ limbs has caused irreversible damage.
“When he woke up and 14 days later when they took him off the ventilator and removed the ECMO machine, they [told] “He told us about his first amputation and how he would probably lose his leg,” Catalina Uribe said. [to amputate his left leg] At a big meeting with many doctors, they said that my other leg didn’t look good, and my hand didn’t look good either. ”
The Uribe family said they had a hard time figuring out what the future holds for their son, who lost his legs and hands.
“He runs cross country, he runs track in school, he plays the piano. He’s a very, very, very smart kid,” Edgar Uribe said. “He was going to be a freshman in high school. His dream was to go to college.” [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] And become an engineer. ”
Catalina Uribe recalled crying next to Matias when doctors told him that further amputation would be necessary.
Mr Boyle said the boy had undergone 14 surgeries to preserve as much function as possible, amputating both forearms below the elbow, one leg below the knee and one leg above the knee. .
The Uribes said they were amazed at Matias’ strength, both physically and mentally.
“He’s really resilient. He’s like, ‘Okay, I need this to get better, okay,'” Catalina Uribe said. “There are no words to describe how strong he is. I mean, he’s amazing.”
Edgar Uribe said he and his wife told Matias how critically ill he was to give him perspective on how far he had come. He said his family is moving forward with what is called a “new life.”
“We said [to Mathias], “We should be grateful to be alive. Matias Uribe, everyone here. your heart. your heart. You are here,” Edgar Uribe continued. “We’re going to solve this. At first we’re going to be your arms and legs. We’re going to help you… and you’re going to get a prosthetic leg.” ..You can become an engineer and achieve all your goals.”
The Uribes said they hope Matias will be able to go home by Christmas as he continues to recover.
Boyle said he is still in intensive care recovering from surgery but will be discharged to a rehabilitation center soon. They will then fit him with a prosthetic leg to regain his independence.
“He’s really dependent on his nurses and family for everything right now, but [before]Mr. Boyle was a teenage boy who could do anything and be more independent,” adding, “It’s hard for everyone in his care to imagine what he was going through and to imagine what a young man could be going through like this. I think it’s really difficult mentally to think about what you’re dealing with,” he added. And it’s also touching because you see that not only is he dealing with this problem, but he’s very determined and very strong. ”
The Uribes said they have received support throughout Mathias’ medical care, not only from Boyle and the team of doctors and nurses at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, but also from his friends and classmates, school, friends and family, and the community. . Friends of the family have launched the #MiracleforMathias GoFundMe, raising more than $300,000 to help cover Mathias’ future and possibly lifelong expenses, including a prosthetic leg, rehab care, and renovations to make her home wheelchair accessible. I collected it.
They said the past three months had been “exhausting” but they found hope in their faith and belief that there was a purpose to what had happened and that Matthias would continue to live a “beautiful life”. Ta.
“We are focused on what we have gained in this situation,” Catalina Uribe said. “Yes, we lost a lot, but Matthias is here.”
“If we sit next to him and we laugh together and say, ‘I love you,’ he’ll say, ‘I love you, Dad. You’re the best dad,’ or, ‘You’re the best dad.’ “The simple fact that we can hear the words ‘best mom in the world’ means everything to us,” Edgar Uribe said.
He added: “I’m confident that Matthias will rise up from this. He’s going to go to rehab, he’s going to get a prosthetic leg and he’s going to do really great things with his life.”
