After 100 days in the hospital, Indiana teen finally healthy
SUMMITVILLE, Ind. (BVM) — Josh Roy is a 13-year-old athlete leading a normal teenage life in the small town of Summitville, Ind. At 6-foot-1 and 147 pounds, Josh is both big and strong for his age. His mother, Juanita, describes Josh as an “optimistic and outgoing kid.” A football and baseball player, Josh was a healthy athlete with everything going for him.
However, in October 2019, Josh’s life would take a drastic turn for the worst. He began feeling sick mid-week but by Thursday and Friday he had felt much better. Once the weekend was coming to a close though, he had again developed several symptoms – including a sore throat and a fever, leading his family to believe he might be fighting a case of strep throat.
On that Sunday, Josh became unresponsive, leading to a 9-1-1 call and an emergency trip to a local hospital where he was intubated and put on a helicopter to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. There he was diagnosed with influenza B, necrotizing staph pneumonia, septic shock, and myocarditis.
Josh spent 50-plus days in the intensive care unit where he suffered seizures and cardiac arrest, among other complications, and would end up losing around 40 pounds.
While they tried to remain optimistic, hope was tough to come across for Josh’s parents as they watched their son fight to stay alive.
“Those first few days in the hospital were terrifying,” Juanita said.
Despite putting Josh on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) he was never stable, even though that is what doctors claim helps most kids recover. With low oxygen levels and heart problems, Josh also had bleeding around the heart and suffered cardiac arrest. These complications, among other issues, were just heartbreaking for not only Josh but his entire family to have to see him suffer through.
After 54 days, Josh was finally off ECMO as he began trying to turn the corner. Still facing some complications, he finally reached his final 24 days at Riley Hospital. Josh’s remaining time would be spent rehabbing. While he was recovering, he got a special visit from some players on the Indianapolis Colts – including their starting quarterback and former Patriots backup, Jacoby Brissett.
Josh is a die-hard Patriots fan, and according to his mom he wasn’t all that enthused to see the Colts players at first. He would’ve rather seen former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady who he still aspires to meet someday, but was ultimately still very happy and appreciative of the players who came to visit him.
It took a total of 100 days in the hospital, but Josh was finally able to return home where he is doing much better. He will be going into high school in the fall and plans to join the freshman football team.
With the unprecedented events, it is tough to know if Josh suffered any severe or long-term damage, but as of right now he is doing well. It was obviously a traumatic experience for Josh, and it was hard for him to initially understand what happened, especially with all the medications he ended up being on.
Juanita says he even told her, “Do you know how weird it is to go to sleep in October and wake up in December?”
However, Josh now embraces his story knowing it is part of his life and can potentially help others from having this happen to them in the future. For Juanita, the fear remains something like this could happen again. A mother of four, she is always looking out for her kids and there is little doubt she will be keeping a sharp eye out for any type of illnesses they may develop in the future.
If there is a silver lining of what happened to Josh, it may just be the amazing staff at Riley Hospital.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to take care of my kid,” Juanita said. “They always respected him, even when he was not even awake.”
It even went as far as the housekeeping lady, who would mop the floor every single morning just to make sure it was clean when Josh would finally wake up.
It was undoubtedly a scary situation but Josh’s toughness, will, and fight pulled him through. Now he has the chance to get back to full health, enjoy the summer, and play high school football this fall with one of the best comeback stories any of us could ever have.
