Caleb Ziegelbauer has only visited the beach twice TAMPA. On June 10 and July 1, the 13-year-old and his family visited Port Charlotte Beach, and on both occasions, they were Charlotte County residents. However, Jesse Ziegelbauer, Caleb’s mother, broke down in tears while discussing that second trip on the tarmac at Signature Flight Support, a facility close to Tampa International Airport. Her youngster became ill with a rare brain-eating amoeba while swimming.
She praised him, saying, “Caleb is brave, strong, a warrior, youthful, and healthy.” “Caleb has a brain that can fix itself. We now take the next best action. We won’t linger over the last two months. As we proceed. We keep becoming better. Caleb is being transferred Wednesday to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab rehabilitation facility in Chicago after fighting the infection for almost two months. The Ziegelbauers received a complimentary flight from Jet ICU, a Tampa-based organization that transports kids like Caleb for required medical care.
After all, Caleb has gone through in the hospital, according to Jet ICU Chief Flight Medical Officer Jared Wayt, it was the least they could do. Caleb played in the water on July 1 like any other child trying to escape the Florida heat. He informed his mother of his headache on July 7. He developed a fever the next day, and on July 9 he started having hallucinations. Doctors diagnosed Caleb with primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare condition caused by the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri, after his parents brought him to the emergency hospital.
Like where Caleb played in Port Charlotte, it can be found in freshwater. The flight crew carried banners made by Caleb’s supporters on board before he boarded the aircraft. One banner stated, “We’ve got you on the outside,” and featured the emblem for the Rebel Alliance in “Star Wars.” Keep battling from within, read another sign. The family has adhered to this adage throughout Caleb’s medical care.
Next, Caleb exited the ambulance while lying on a stretcher. He donned his baseball cap, which had sweat stains on the brim from his time spent playing the field, and supported his neck with a grey cushion. Caleb started getting treatment from the CDC for the virus on July 10. According to Jesse Ziegelbauer, the 28-day process was successfully finished, and the patient is now in good health and prepared to move on.
That will be a program at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago for disorders of consciousness. It’s the top recovery program in the nation, according to Ziegelbauer. Caleb’s parents went through a lot of sleepless, worrying evenings. At three in the morning, according to Jesse Ziegelbauer, she printed out about 75 pictures of Caleb. She wanted the medical professionals caring for her son to enter the room and recognize him as the same person she has always known him to be: a baseball-loving, “Star Wars” and “House”-obsessed youngster.
She claimed it was a means of “humanizing” him so that physicians wouldn’t only see the bedridden teenager who was gradually achieving milestones like opening his eyes or moving his fingers in tiny motions. Just take each day as it comes, she advised. Every finger twitch we see inspires hope and excitement for the future. Fighting on the Outside for Caleb Ziegelbauer is a Facebook group where Ziegelbauer regularly updates followers on her son’s progress. There are around 2,000 people who belong.
For Caleb, her sister Katie Chet set up a GoFundMe page that has received about $65,000 from more than 850 contributions. After entering Caleb’s nose, the amoeba moved on to his brain. When swimming in freshwater, his mother advises using nose plugs to avoid catching a similar infection. She claimed Caleb scribbled “Never settle for anything less than 97%” in a notebook in the fourth grade. She claimed that he is now aiming for 100%. And after his medical care is over? His mother predicted that he would desire barbeque sauce as his first food preference.
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