It’s been a week since 14 people were injured in Crescent City due to what authorities suspect could be an illegal fireworks show. One of the victims was a three year old boy who is currently in critical condition in Portland by his parents’ side. His Aunt lives in Eureka, so I spoke to her about some updates on his health.
The explosion happened around 10pm on July Fourth.
“During the day, evidently, the folks who had let off these fireworks had walked around the beach advertising how amazing the show was going to be. And they were, you know, saying that they were incredibly experienced pyrotechnicians. Excuse me if I’m using the wrong words. But it was going to be fun. They themselves, according to my sister, had family there as well. Children”, says Suzanna Church.
The family was completely caught off guard as it happened.
“And so, later on that evening, when everything started winding down, my sister and her family, they were kind of just sitting, finishing up, watching the fireworks. Little did she know, right behind her. They had set up one of their column cakes, went off, misfired, and hit the bottom of my nephew’s chair in which he was sleeping in”.
The child had to be airlifted to a hospital in Portland.
“They were taken to the hospital who realized this is, you know, this is an emergency situation. They medi flighted him, the intention was to go to Portland. Unfortunately, my nephew had a cardiac arrest during that flight, which caused his heart to stop beating. The flight crew was able to continue to keep his heart beating and get oxygen to his lungs”,
“They had to make a pit stop in Eugene to get him stable enough to then fly him to Portland. So the next day, he flew to Portland again. The medical team was amazing on board, and once he got to Portland, he’s been in a medically induced coma ever since”, says Church.
He’s more stable now, but Doctors remind the family that this is a marathon, not a sprint.
“They found out he has strep in the punctured lung, and so they’re already treating that with antibiotics. So at the current time, I would say he’s stable. We’re still unaware of what his cognitive ability is going to be. they’re experimenting with the ventilation to see if they can take it. And you know, how much they can take him off, how much he can handle. And at this time, it’s just waiting for his little body to heal”.
“And so I’m hoping that, you know, I’m putting a lot of faith and trust into the justice system that they’re going to investigate and tell us what should be done”, Church says.
You can receive further updates and donate to the go fund me for medical expenses here
