FERNDALE, Mich. (WXYZ) — A metro Detroit family is desperate to get home after a surgery in Washington D.C. went differently than expected.
Ajay Smith and her then 10-year-old son Elijah traveled for brain surgery to help with his epilepsy. He was supposed to have reduced seizures and be back home in a week, but they’ve been in the hospital for nearly two months with Elijah now partially paralyzed.
“From this type of surgery, you just never see these type of side effects and I can't tell you how shocking it is,” Ajay Smith said. “I almost have no words.”
“Never in the worst-case scenario was this supposed to happen. This just was not presented as an option... It was supposed to get better and it was supposed to change.”
EliJah suffers from epilepsy and was having drop seizures. His family traveled to Children’s National Hospital to have the brain surgery, hoping it would stop the seizures. They say the procedure left him partially paralyzed.
“Every morning now, I wake up to him saying, ‘Mommy, I’m trapped,’” Ajay Smith said. “The first time he said that, I thought maybe his leg got caught in the side of the bed or something, and I realized he said that because his expectation is to climb out of bed like he used to, you know? And just get up in the morning like he used to. And every morning now, the first thing I hear him say is ‘I'm trapped, I’m trapped.'”
Elijah and his mom have celebrate Thanksgiving and his11th birthday in the D.C. hospital and are now preparing to celebrate Christmas there as well. He is going through rehab and therapy, which Ajay Smith says could be done closer to home, but he’s not healthy enough for commercial travel. An air ambulance would cost the family more than $30,000.
“That's an impossible thing to pay for — at least for us,” Ajay Smith said. “We’re here and were trying to get him better with rehab here, but we want to get him home with his support.”
Now, friends are stepping in.
“She doesn't like to ask for help, which is a big reason why I'm doing this for her,” Ajay Smith’s friend Kim Duda said.
Duda launched a fundraiser, hoping to get the family home to Ferndale. Duda knows what it’s like for her friend, having a daughter with cerebral palsy.
“It would mean more than anything to get them home, so they can be close to family and friends that can support them,” Duda said.
As Ajay Smith and her son get ready for another holiday in the hospital, she says she’s trying to stay strong and get them home.
“I always try to stay real positive for him because he’s so sensitive to the way I’m feeling,” Ajay Smith said.
So far, Duda has raised just over $8,000.
