Friends,
Mohammed needs help more than ever tonight. Earlier this evening Dr. Eli
Gilad, the deputy director of the pediatric ICU where Mohammed is hospitalized,
gave me a comprehensive update on his condition.
He said that Mohammed arrived 12 days ago in "catastrophic"
condition, not only with multi-system organ failure but also a deadly
hospital-acquired bacteria which is resistent to multiple antibiotics.
While his kidneys started functioning this week, the liver seems to have
suffered a serious injury from the lack of blood supply during Mohammed's
first days of life, and is still unable to clear toxins such as ammonia
from the blood. Mohammed's body is also not manufacturing coagulation
factors and he is dependent on infusions of plasma. A head ultrasound
has furthermore indicated hydrocephalus.
Perhaps most seriously, the lower part of his bowel is not functioning.
Mohammed was given contrast material to map the course of his digestion,
and doctors today saw it stop at the end of his small intestine, instead
of continuing on into the large intestine. Dr. Gilad thinks if they opened
up Mohammed's abdomen they would find mostly dead tissue there, again
a result of the lack of blood supply. "All together the prognosis
is extremely bad, probably less than a one percent chance to survive.
We're happy that the kidneys came back, but this is the only thing that
came back."
I told Dr. Gilad that the kidneys were the area that we together had been
focusing our prayer on. "Let them focus on all the body," he
said. "The chances are very grim."
May God give us his own compassion and leading as we continue to stand
before him on Mohammed's behalf.
