WFBA's Haylee Richardson is on the mend after fighting life-threatening medical conditions
Haylee Richardson is enduring the toughest battle of her life during the offseason.
Helping West Florida Baptist Academy to Panhandle Conference girls basketball championship this past winter, the soon-to-be junior has been fighting off overlapping medical conditions since Mother's Day. What started as marked stomach pain has since evolved into numerous medical emergencies that has had the Richardson family at the University of Florida's Shands Hospital in Gainesville since May 10.
According to Haylee's father Joel, May 4 is when she began complaining of stomach pain with nausea. This was accompanied by vomiting, but she went back to feeling relatively normal. The next time Haylee voiced concerns of cramping abdominal pain was three days later. However, with just a couple weeks of school remaining and the pain non-severe, she planned on sticking it out.
Just 24 hours later, her condition began to take a drastic turn. That evening at around 11:30 p.m., Haylee had an uncontrolled bowel movement while laying in bed. Then at roughly 2:30 a.m., attempting to walk to the bathroom, Haylee went limp and fell to all fours.
She crawled to the toilet where she sat, and fell unconscious. She stopped breathing, and Julie, Haylee's mom, called 911. On their arrival, the first responders opened up Haylee's airways to get her breathing, but was still unconscious.
After arriving at Sacred Heart Hospital, a blood pressure test showed 41/21. She was transported to the shock trauma room where doctors performed a fluid resuscitation, and that's when she received her shocking initial diagnosis.
Haylee had pancreatitis, acute kidney injury, hypovolemic and septic shock and a urinary tract infection. Doctors told the family that because her condition was multi-system, she'd be better off transferring to a bigger facility where they can handle all of those circumstances simultaneously.
She was moved to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville.
"That's when it hit my wife and I emotionally that this is bad, this is bad, this is bad," Joel said. "I work for Shands on the helicopter so I know we only take really, really sick patients down to Shands in Gainesville, so of course you can imagine everything running through my head."
The move to Shands also meant that the Richardson's would be leaving behind their two other children, a 13-year old daughter and an 8-year old son, so that they could finish out the school year.
"We talked to them about what's going on and that we don't know how long we are going to be there and we don't know what's going on," Joel said. "Thankfully most of my family and almost all of my wife's family, they are in Milton also, so they were like, 'We got it, y'all go take care of what you need to take care of.'"
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And since that day, Joel has yet to see his daughter and son again. He and Julie have stayed in Gainesville as Haylee's situation mounted, eventually needing multiple life-saving surgeries.
Transported to Shands
On her arrival to Shands, she was intubated for the doctors to perform a number of different procedures as well as for her own well-being. Haylee hadn't slept since Mother's Day, and it allowed her body to rest.
By the time Joel and Julie showed up, the doctors had their daughter hooked up to everything but the kitchen sink, and the scene was a parent's worst nightmare.
"We walk into the pediatric ICU and we see her already on a type of dialysis called CRRT, on the ventilator, on the arterial line, on all these medicated drips and everything," Joel said. "Just the emotions of seeing your oldest daughter being literally kept alive by machines, it was overwhelming."
The two parents took turns every night up until about a week ago, one staying in Haylee's hospital room while the other went and rested in the Airbnb provided to them by Joel's work. As a member of Escambia Fire Rescue and part of the Local 4131 union, Joel's union president immediately secured them a local rental.
That was able to ease some tension, but the Richardson's were still spending most of their time at Shands meeting with Haylee's nephrologist, pathologist, interventional doctor and so on.
It turns out, doctors believe Haylee had a gallstone that blocked the bile duct and backed up her filtration system. It had blocked the system for much longer than it typically should before leaving the bile duct, and when those backed up toxins were released, it shocked her system.
"The hardest part for me is that I'm a paramedic and a fireman, I'm a fixer, if I see something that's wrong, I can help it," Joel said. "But I was completely helpless in this whole situation."
For a while, it seemed that every step Haylee took forward meant there would soon be a step backwards.
At one point, doctors found four separate bleeds in her pancreas and told the Richardson's that if they were unable to stop the bleeds, there would be nothing more they can do. Fortunately, they were able to control the situation, but that leads to future treatments.
Doctors say that every week, two or three times per week, they will now have to go in on Haylee to replace or rearrange the drain that is taking fluid from her stomach until it is completely relieved.
Haylee is not allowed to eat because her medical team fears necrotizing pancreatitis. This is a condition where death in the cells of the pancreas spread to other parts of the body because of inflammation. Additionally, she will need her gall bladder removed before leaving the hospital and potentially part of her colon.
However, despite doctors saying to prepare for a marathon recovery, Joel says that they've also said Haylee is past the mortality-related issues with her condition. She has come a long way and is starting to vastly improve.
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"Now she's to the point where she can get up and move, she can talk, she can walk with a walker," Joel said.
With that said though, there is still a long way to go, and the Richardson's know that. They've relied on their strong faith to help them navigate this difficult time, and understand it's ultimately out of their control.
"It's God's decision, we gave her to him when she was born and said this is your child," Joel said. "This has helped solidify our faith in him. We live in a world where we think we need answers but we don't. It's OK to not know because we know the end plan."
Anyone looking to help ease the Richardson's financial burden during this trying time is encouraged to donate to them by this GoFundMe fundraiser started by Haylee's high school basketball coach, Darrin Johnson: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-with-haylees-medical-expenses.
A little more about Haylee
Johnson has been a coach in Haylee's life all throughout middle school and now in high school. According to him, she's been a coach's dream.
"The reason I feel so strongly about her is because she stays late and helps pick up, she's the teammate who is always encouraging everybody on the bench, hustling, diving for loose balls," Johnson said. "That's her, and she's got that attitude that she's going to do whatever it takes to win or help her team. One of the best teammates that you would ever have."
But her bubbly personality and joy for life might be what's helped her fight this battle so strongly. Aside from her grittiness and selflessness on the court, she's a shining light in social settings.
"She is the fun one, she has always got a smile on her face, laughing, loving to laugh, loving life all the time," Johnson said. "She's got one of those infectious laughs and everybody around her is always in a good mood."
Lucas Semb can be reached at Lsemb@pensacol.gannett.com or 850-281-7414. Follow him on Twitter at @Lucas_Semb for stories and various Pensacola area score updates.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: West Florida Baptist Academy athlete fights for life in Gainesville
