DALLAS — A North Texas mom is thankful her son is alive after a sinus infection landed her son in the hospital for multiple brain surgeries.
Kendra Smith said she took her 13-year-old son, Christopher Bryant to an area emergency room for what they thought was an ear infection.
“He developed a horrible migraine,” Smith said. “Nothing got better."
After three days and two emergency room visits, her son’s entire eye was swollen.
“He couldn’t even open it,” Smith said. “I don’t know where it came from. It just happened so fast. He felt the pain spreading. It was no longer behind his eye, he felt it going deep in his brain.”
Chris was transferred to Children’s Medical Center Dallas, where doctors determined he had a sinus infection that created an abscess behind his eye. An abscess is a buildup of pull that can affect any part of the body. According to doctors at Children’s Health, the sinus infection spread to Chris’s brain.
Dr. Anum Dadwani, a Pediatric Hospitalist with UT Southwestern and Children’s Medical Center Dallas, said she and a team of doctors escalated his care when imaging showed a collection of puss in his brain.
“The spread to your brain is pretty rare,” Dadwani said. “It could’ve been life-threatening. The mortality and morbidity of these infections that could spread to the brain is very high, so we’re very glad that his mom brought him in when she did.”
According to Dadwani, when the abscess spread to Chris’s brain, it triggered a seizure.
“When he had the seizure and I asked the doctors if he was okay and they said: ‘We hope so, we’re gonna do everything we can,’ that scared me,” Smith said.
Chris, a soon-to-be eighth grader, had to undergo multiple brain surgeries, including craniotomy, to drain the puss from his brain.
“I was very worried, very scared,” Bryant said.
Dr. Dadwani said parents should look out for symptoms like high fever, eye and forehead swelling and pain during eye movement.
“Those are all signs of something serious going on,” Dadwani said.
Chris is home after spending seven days in the hospital, including time in the ICU for monitoring after his surgeries. He’ll spend the next six weeks on antibiotics and has a long list of upcoming doctor appointments. While Chris's mother believes the infection may have stemmed from pool time, Dadwani said doctors can't determine where or how the teenager developed the sinus infection for certain.
“I never thought in a million years that was brewing in his brain while he was having a headache,” Smith said. “It’s very serious and he's still not out of the woods yet, but we are praying. My hope for him is to be healthy and have a good life.”
The concerned mother knows how quickly life can take a turn.
Smith has launched a GoFundMe to cover Chris’s medical expenses and their living expenses until she can return to work.