Amanda and Ed Bystran lost one of their twin boys to RSV less than three months after they were born, and they are now praying for the recovery of their second son.
On August 15, Amanda Bystran gave birth to twins Brodie and Silas. “We couldn’t wait for them to arrive. My older kids were just so happy they were going to have babies in the house,” Amanda Bystran, who has four other children, said. “They couldn’t wait to meet and hold them. They were actually born on my 8-year-old’s birthday,” she said to CNN. The twins were born at 34 weeks prematurely and were fighting for better health from the start. They were discharged from the newborn critical care unit after two weeks and recovered from Covid-19 and meningitis in September, their mother says.
While the Bystrans had hoped their twins had improved, by mid-October, both had started coughing and congested. When the twins' concerned parents, who reside in Catlett, Virginia, went them to the pediatrician on October 17, they were informed that their children most likely had a common cold after testing negative for RSV and the flu. “They sent us home but then, around Thursday, Brodie got rapidly worse. He was really congested and was really struggling to pass mucus. It was like nothing we’ve ever seen,” Bystran remarked. “He deteriorated so quickly. It’s like one minute he was fine and the next minute he was fighting for his life.”
On October 20, the Bystrans made the decision to drive Brodie an hour away to Inova L.J. Murphy Children's Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. When Brodie tested positive for RSV this time, a doctor called Amanda to let her know that he would be admitted to the hospital. Before Brodie was moved to a bed in the pediatric surgical unit, the family waited in the emergency room for 12 hours. He was then transported to the pediatric intensive care unit after a 16-hour delay, according to Bystran.“They were so full. The entire pediatric ward was full of RSV cases. It was horrific,” she declared.
Bystran was with her kid for the majority of his hospital stay and observed while the medical staff experimented with various oxygen treatments, according to Bystran. When she noticed that the oxygen treatments were failing and Brodie was still having trouble breathing on the morning of October 22, things started to get worse, and she requested more assistance. Bystran explained, “They decided to intubate him, so I stepped out so they can work on him.”
“Then 20 minutes passed by, and a nurse came to tell me that his heart rate had dived and they have been doing CPR on him for the last 10 minutes.” Bystran urgently requested that her husband and in-laws travel to the hospital, but they were unable to get in time for Brodie to pass away, according to Bystran. “My heart has been shattered into a billion pieces. No mother should ever have to plan a funeral for her baby. He should have outlived me. This boy didn’t even get to see three months old. It’s not fair,” Bystran remarked when she posted her grief on Facebook.
Silas, Brodie's twin, is still in the hospital attempting to recover from RSV, prolonging the horror for the Bystrans. He was admitted to the hospital the day after his sibling on October 21 after testing positive for RSV, according to Bystran. In contrast to Brodie, Silas has also been diagnosed with pneumonia and spent roughly 16 hours in the intensive care unit, according to his mother.
After leaving the intensive care unit on Tuesday evening, Silas had a temperature the next morning and required assistance to improve his oxygen levels, according to Bystran. “We had a really tough night and he’s back to not doing so good. The doctors said RSV is a rollercoaster in that way,” she stated. “They are okay one minute and then can go downhill quickly before stabilizing again.”
His family is incredibly sorry that he won't be able to grow up with his twin, but they remain hopeful that he will survive. A GoFundMe page was created later, requesting donations to reduce the financial strain on grieving parents.
“Brodie was such a light. A beautiful little child. He was so wanted and loved. It was so sweet to see the bond he and Silas shared,” Bystran remarked. “They preferred to sleep together; they were always touching. It breaks my heart that I won’t be able to see them grow together. I’m afraid Silas will always feel this hole because he won’t have his twin brother.” The Bystrans urge other parents to follow their intuition as they lament the loss of their son. “If you feel like your child is getting worse and it’s not just a common cold, go straight to the hospital. Don’t wait, don’t think about it, don’t second-guess yourself,” Bystran said. As per CNN reports, RSV cases have experienced a major spike lately. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost all children contract RSV before the age of two, but parents should exercise extra caution with preemies, newborns, children with compromised immune systems or neuromuscular disorders, as well as children under the age of two who have chronic lung and heart conditions.
References:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/30/us/twins-rsv-virus-death-ctrp/index.html
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-for-the-bystran-family
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/21/health/rsv-hospitals-what-to-know-wellness/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html
Cover Image Source: Facebook | Amanda Bystran
