In April 2018, 11-month-old Bentley began showing signs of being sick. His breathing was labored, he had a fever that was climbing, and overall Bentley’s parents could tell something wasn’t right. Concerned about their son’s symptoms, his parents, Mckayla and Nicholas, brought Bentley to a nearby urgent care for treatment.

“They told us he had Croup cough,” Bentley’s mom, Mckayla, told us about his visit “They didn’t test him or anything. They just assumed that’s what he had.”

Based solely off of observations, the medical center sent Bentley and his parents home. “We didn’t know because this was our first kid and we trusted what the doctors were telling us,” Mckayla admits.

Before they left urgent care, the attending doctor told Bentley’s parents that his symptoms “would get worse before they became better” and prescribed some albuterol to help him breath easier. The next day, as predicted, Bentley’s breathing did become much worse, however he showed no signs of getting better even as yet another grueling day passed.

Since Bentley continued to struggle to breath, Mckayla decided to get dressed and take Bentley to a different hospital for a second opinion. Although she only left the room for a few minutes, Mckayla returned to find her son unresponsive and not breathing.

Mckayla immediately called 911 and began CPR, which she was certified in performing. “The doctors told me later that if I didn’t know how to do CPR, Bentley would not still be with us,” Mckayla told us.

Bentley spend a lot of time in PICU recovering from his newly acquired brain injury. It was there she learned that Bentley tested positive for human metapneumorvirus, more commonly known as HMPV, which can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all age, especially young children with weakened immune systems.

Now, almost 3 years later, Bentley is a survivor of an anoxic brain injury and is now ready to start going to school but doesn’t have the appropriate tie-downs on his wheelchair to allow for safe transfer. Just the same, at home Bentley no longer has anywhere comfortable to sit as standard-issued seats and chairs aren’t intended for children his size or with his lack of head, neck and trunk support.

Holton’s Heroes was honored to be able to pay for the labor and parts necessary to allow Bentley’s wheelchair to be safely transferred in vans and buses, so he can triumphantly begin school in the fall.

Additionally, Holton’s Heroes purchased Bentley his very own P-pod chair for the home. As their site boasts, “the P Pod was born as a result of feedback from parents that were clamoring for an alternative seating device for the home that would provide all the clinical benefits their child’s needs, while allowing them to actively participate with the family.”

Bentley’s new custom adaptive chair offers a warm, fun and engaging look with a specially molded foam liner that provides outstanding positional support and comfort. More importantly, now he can hang with his family in any room in the house.

We are so incredibly grateful to our donors that make gifts like these possible. If you’d like to help more heroes, you may do so here.

A note for the summer: Swimming is a favorite past time for millions people around the country, as it’s something people of all ages can participate in. However, it’s important to be aware of the dangers associated with any body of water. Here’s a link to Swimming Safety Tips by the American Red Cross.