CAMRON'S STORY

At first, it seemed 13 year old Camron had a nasty case of food poisoning. The next day, his father Craig took him to an urgent care center just to be sure it wasn't appendicitis. Although Camron wasn't showing the classic symptoms of appendicitis, he was thoroughly examined for it. He was sent home with the diagnosis of food poisoning.

Two days later, Camron wasn't showing any signs of improvement. He couldn't eat, sleep or even get comfortable. Finally, Craig and mother Chrissy looked at each other and said, "This has gone on too long." They loaded Camron into the car and drove to a local hospital.

No one knows how Camron was able to walk into that emergency room. A CT scan taken of his abdomen showed a burst appendix and peritonitis, an infection of the membrane lining his abdominal cavity. Realizing Camron was gravely ill, the emergency room physician immediately transferred him to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at CHOC at Mission.

When Camron arrived, however, the CHOC at Mission PICU physicians and surgeons could not take him into surgery right away because they were not sure his weakened body could withstand anesthesia. Instead, they started him on three antibiotics to combat the infection. Finally, pediatric surgeon David Gibbs, M.D., was able to take Camron into the operating room the next afternoon.

"After his surgery, Dr. Gibbs told us that in 12 years of practice, Camron's case was by far the worst he'd ever seen," Craig recalls. For the next 10 days, while Camron recuperated from surgery, his parents developed quite a rapport with the PICU staff, including Medical Director Gary Goodman, M.D.

"Dr. Goodman was incredible. He stopped by every day, gave us a hug and treated us like family," Chrissy says. "He explained things in such a way that even though he used surgical and medical terms, you could easily follow along. He answered all of our questions."

Camron has fully recovered from his ordeal, thanks to the expert care he received from the PICU team at CHOC at Mission.