Liam Lamb remains at Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital in Jackson after an E.coli infection. A GoFundMe account has been set up to support Liam. (Submitted photo)
A Starkville toddler remains at Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson following an E.coli infection, and the community has rallied around him to help.
On May 31, three-year-old Liam Lamb from Starkville wasn’t feeling well. After the symptoms failed to pass, his parents, Michael Lamb and Ann Lamb took him to OCH Regional Medical Center.
“The next day we went and saw the pediatrician,” Michael Lamb said. “He hadn’t gotten any better. They ran some more tests to try to see what was wrong with him. With what they thought it was, they don’t want to just rush in and give antibiotics. They want to try to identify what it is, because if you give the wrong antibiotics, it can cause more harm than benefit.”
They left the pediatrician’s office with instructions to return to the emergency room if he did not improve. He did not.
“By Sunday morning, they said y’all need to go to the children’s hospital in Jackson, so they bussed us down, to the children’s hospital, we got direct admitted,” Michael Lamb said.
When they arrived in Jackson, they found Liam’s kidneys were failing from the virus, and dialysis had begun.
Liam still receives dialysis three times a week.
“I think we were in the ICU seven or nine days,” Michael Lamb said. “Then we were moved to a room on the floor and eventually got discharged from the hospital for about 50 hours, and then he spiked another fever.”
The hospital discovered a perforation in Liam’s colon and removed four inches of it, leaving him with a colostomy bag. He left the pediatric ICU July 23, and remains at Blair A. Batson working toward discharge.
The source of Liam’s illness has not been determined.
“It’s just a very mysterious, one-off case of E.coli,” Michael Lamb said.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
While the Lambs have been supporting their son in his time of need, the community has rallied around the family in several ways.
A GoFundMe account has been made for the family with a goal of $10,000. As of 6 p.m. Monday fundraising on the account had reached $4,900 with 48 donors.
The campaign can be found at www.gofundme. com/sharing-love-for-liam.
A blood drive is also scheduled in his name for Aug. 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“Liam’s had to have I think 10 transfusions since he’s been in the hospital,” Michael Lamb said. “That’s a lot of blood for a little man to go through.”
Michael Lamb also said his church family at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection and neighbors had supported him and his daughter with meals and other support. He then said his and Ann’s parents had also been supporting.
“It’s definitely been more taxing emotionally and physically, but when your kid’s sick in the hospital, you don’t have any other choice than to buckle up and go through it,” Michael Lamb said.