Steven

Today, Steven Mier can pretty much do anything he sets his mind to–swim, surf, maybe even dance the mamba. But not long ago, the 6-year-old was treading water.

A mystery illness put this beach boy out of commission. It all started when the roof fell in on him–literally. A brick that made up part of the roof of his neighborhood clubhouse fell, hitting him square on the head. A quick trip to a South Valley hospital revealed nothing out of the ordinary, just a nasty bump.

But soon, took a turn for the worse. Steven stopped eating. He was dizzy and constantly sick to his stomach. His fever topped out at a whopping 106 degrees. Repeated trips to local hospitals turned up no answers. Finally, Steven’s mother Ramona took him from their Wasco home to Children’s Hospital Central California.

At first, Steven had even the pediatric experts at Children’s stumped.

“They didn’t know what he had,” says Ramona. “They took so many tests, and they still didn’t know. They thought he might have diabetes, meningitis, valley fever, tuberculosis –he didn’t have any of those.”

About a week after Steven was admitted to Children’s, his condition worsened. He could barely walk, he was having trouble with his eyes, and he was experiencing pain in his extremities and back. He was transferred to the Hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), and placed under the care of Dr. Kathleen Murphy. Finally, a follow-up MRI revealed the source of Steven’s symptoms –lesions on his brain and spinal cord.

A biopsy was out of the question due to the location of the lesions. Instead, doctors decided to attack the unknown infection with a heavy dose of intravenous antibiotics. Slowly, Steven started getting better.

After three days in the PICU, he was transferred to the Hospital’s Starship Apollo inpatient unit. There, Children’s physical therapists helped get him back on his feet. Soon, he was walking all over the hospital, talking with staff , and being the active, outgoing boy that his mother once knew. Three weeks later, Steven went home.

“I really thought I was going to lose my son,” says Ramona. “I’m so grateful to Children’s Hospital. You have no idea how happy I am and how happy we are with the doctors at Children’s. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay them.”

Though she’s trying. In the spirit of philanthropy, Ramona has started her own mini-fundraiser for Children’s in her hometown. She and her family have visited several Wasco businesses, asking them to help support the Hospital.

“It’s a good hospital,” she says. “They’re doing good things and I want to pay them back. I don’t care if it’s a penny or a quarter, anything.”

As for Steven, he’s pretty much back to normal. He’s a whiz at math, he loves to dance and swim, and he’s a serious prankster–especially skilled with a whoopee cushion.

“He even told one of the doctors that he was on his list,” says Ramona. “That he better watch out because one of these days he was going to sit down, and he was going to very surprised.”

Steven will be a regular at Children’s for quite some time. He’s scheduled for several follow up treatments to make sure the lesions are gone for good. However, he doesn’t plan on making it a long-term relationship.

“He said that someday he’ll go back to the Hospital,” says his mom, “as a doctor, not as a patient.”

Journey Sponsored by Kevin & Denny Tweed and Family
Adventure Sponsored by Schafer Group