6-month old Colton and his family were at a friend’s house when he started to get sleepy. Not having a crib or playpen to place him in, his parents, Paige and Blake, laid Colton down in the middle of their friend’s queen-sized bed so that he could go down for a nap away from the noise of the party. They did what many parents typically do in this situation to keep their son safe. They surrounded him with tons of pillows so he would be prevented from rolling away from the spot they placed him. Or so they hoped.
Paige and Blake quietly left the room and sat down right outside the door to be close by. Unfortunately, that short distance wouldn’t be enough to reverse an accident that changed the course of their family’s life forever.
“We heard him hit the floor, and immediately start to cry,” Paige recalls. “Blake dropped everything and flew into the room to get him.”
After surveying the scene, they discovered Colton on the floor with a small bump on his head. Although he was crying, they felt relieved as it seemed like a rather insignificant injury.
They recall that he was uncomfortable and kept crying, which Paige perceived as good news—afterall, he was alert and wide awake, which she’s always been told is a good thing when dealing with a head injury. She even remembers Colton shooting her an adorable smile after they calmed him down.
However, being concerned parents they still wanted Colton to be officially checked out at a nearby hospital, so they packed him up and drove to a nearby emergency department. Unfortunately, things changed once they got there as Colton began to vomit uncontrollably. Doctors quickly scrambled and decided to do a a CT scan to see what was happening inside his still-forming head.
That’s when the severity of Colton’s fall revealed itself.
Colton enjoying his new bath chair from Holton’s Heroes at home.
“I vividly remember holding Colton up to vomit, while kneeling on the floor trying to calm him down [again], and the doctor walked in,” Paige recalls. “He told us that Colton did have a fracture, and there was some blood on his brain.”
Paige remembers not being too phased by this info. She assumed that these highly trained doctors would simply “fix” her son and they’d be heading home sooner than later, but that’s not how things played out.
Instead, Colton was airlifted to another hospital in Memphis, TN where a large team of pediatric doctors worked tirelessly to save little Colton. It was there that Paige and Blake learned their son was far from heading home—and could possibly die that night.
Doctors had discovered that the seemingly insignificant fall had caused such extraordinary bleeding into his brain that Colton had gone into cardiac arrest, which starved his brain of precious oxygen. He spent the next month in the hospital undergoing surgery, tests, and an MRI that showed such significant damage to his brain that, as Paige and Blake were told, even if he survived, would leave him in a vegetative state. Their hearts were broken, but Colton was far from done fighting.
Incredibly, Colton turned an impressive and unexpected corner weeks after being told he might not live through the night. He began to breathe on his own again and started his miraculous comeback. After spending significant time in the hospital, he opened his eyes and began the long journey to recovery. When he was finally discharged a month later he resumed his infectious smiling, but those gummy grins hid the truth of what Colton was dealing with now.
There is no questioning the fact that Colton was given another shot at life but one where he’s fed through a feeding tube, takes multiple medications for unpredictable seizures, and lacks proper gross motor skills to sit up on his own.
While some doctor’s have told Colton’s parents to not expect much improvements over time, they also thought he would die that first night in the hospital. He’s proved them wrong before and we’re confident he’ll do it again.
Paige and Blake refuse to give up, as they are aggressively trying to get him stem cell therapy. Holton’s Heroes has given the family a significant grant to be used towards the eventual stem cell treatment. Additionally, Holton’s Heroes gifted Colton a brand new waterproof chair called Splashy that will give him proper support during bath time. This chair can also be used at the beach, poolside, or even in the park! It’s versatile, lightweight and travels very well.
If you’d like to directly help Colton receive stem cell therapy by donating, you can do so at their Gofundme page.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is greatly appreciated. When we are in a better place, I promise to bless a family like you have ours. I am so grateful.”
Holton's Heroes sponsored three incredible campers to attend the 2018 summer session of Camp Cranium—a camp dedicated to providing a one-of-a-kind experience for children with brain injuries.