"For I will restore health to you and heal you
of your wounds, says the Lord" (Jeremiah 30:17)
Evan, a 10 year old boy full of life and joy had a terrible
thing happen to him on Sunday March 21, 2004. We have put this web site together to help keep
accurate infomation flowing to friends, family and the so many people who are praying for him.
We will try to update this information daily or as Evan's condition changes. Please email us
below with your thoughts and prayers. We love hearing from everyone who is supporting our son
in his time of need.
At around 5:45 PM on Sunday March 21, 2004, we sat down to dinner. Evan had stated earlier
that he was very hungry. After taking his second or third bite he stated that "he just didn't
feel like eating". I asked him if he was hungry and he stated he thought he was but just did not
feel like eating. Kelly and I told him he could go back to the family room and play with his
toys and maybe later he would feel like eating. After a few minutes in the family room, Evan
called out that he was feeling "kind of dizzy". Kelly went to him, had him lie down on the
sofa and stated that she would go upstairs and get him a cold washcloth. As soon as she went
upsatirs, Evan called to me saying he felt that something was wrong with the one side of
his body. He said this in a slurred voice. I was in the kitchen at the sink and remember
thinking what I had heard did not seem right. I felt like I stood there for an hour,
reprocessing what I had just heard even though it was only about 1/2 a second.
As I turned to him, he was off the sofa and walking toward the kitchen. I noticed that he
was sort of "pulling" his left leg and stumbling as he moved closer. By the time our paths
neared each other I watched as my son collapsed to the floor. I called for Kelly and I picked
Evan up and carried him to the couch. As I lied him on the couch and comforted him, he said
to me, crying, "Dad, what is happening to me?"I said "I don't really know honey but don't
scared, we will be right by your side." Kelly (the great nurse that she is) checked him over
and we immediately decided to call an ambulance. While waiting for the ambulance, Evan started
vomiting. The paramedics arrived and assessed Evan's condition. They quickly made the decision
to transport Evan to Firelands Regional Medical Center. It seemed that more than a dozen
doctors and nursers tended to Evan and provided our son with excellent care. The emergency
room doctors informed us that Evan needed to have a CT Scan (a scan of the brain). Evan
remained unresponsive to the medical team and seemed to decline rapidly. He was shutting down
as we watched. The result of the scan showed that Evan had a very large, 6cm x 6cm, bleed
(about the size of a baseball) very deep in his brain which caused him to have a massive
stroke. I could see in the faces of every doctor and nurse in the emergency room that Evan
was in real trouble. They informed us that Evan needed to be immediately Life-Flighted by
helicoptor to Rainbow Babies & Childrens Hospital in Cleveland, OH. Moments later we were
informed that due to the high winds, the helicopter was unable to fly and a Life-Flight
transport team would have to travel to Sandusky and take him to Rainbow by special
transport ambulance. On the road to Rainbow, I-90 was closed due to an accident which forced
the transport to take a detour delaying his arriving to the doctors he so desperatly needed.
Click here to send the Goretzki family your thoughts or
prayers.
