Dawson Coon
Geneva, Nebraska
By Dirk Coon

Every February 22nd, my family has a celebration.  We call it "Life Day."  Life Day is a day in which we celebrate the fact that our family of six, including 4 sons, is all healthy and alive.  The reason we chose this date is that it is a reminder of the worst day of our lives. 

February 22 started out as a regular day.  My wife and I are both teachers and we were at our respective schools teaching.  My father, also a teacher at the school I was in at that time, ran into my classroom and pulled me out.  He told me that Dawson (2 ½ at the time) was in the emergency room, because he was seizing at daycare.  Without saying a word, I ran out of the building to my car and drove to the hospital.  I went into the emergency room and saw my son, eyes closed and shaking.  I broke down and asked what happened.  I was told he just fell down and started shaking.  The ambulance was called and he was taken to a helicopter, which life-flighted him to the Children's Hospital in Omaha, NE.  My wife arrived just before the helicopter left.  She taught in a nearby town at the time.

By the time we reached Omaha, Dawson was awake, but unable to move due to all the medication he was on.  He got a CAT scan and there was nothing abnormal.  We were sent home with an appointment to return in two weeks for more tests.  We spent the night checking in on Dawson every hour.  When he awoke, we still had a son that was unable to walk. 

The next two weeks went by with numerous trips to the doctor.  Dawson would run a low-grade fever every few days and had cold symptoms.  When it was our time to go back to Children's Hospital (this was a Friday), I was told that no test could be done at that time, because he had been sick recently.  However, I was adamant that someone needed to look at Dawson that day.  We were told that the only way he would be seen is if he was taken in through the emergency room.  So I did just that. 

We went in and they decided to check his white cell count.  It was over three times the normal amount.  I was then told that something was indeed very wrong with Dawson.  They admitted him to the hospital overnight to observe him.  The next day (Saturday), my pregnant wife and parents came down as the hospital decided to hook a monitor up to his brain to check for signs of seizures.  The test came back negative.  They sent us back to his room for another day and night of observation. 

On Sunday, they decided to perform a spinal tap.  They got the results back later that day and wanted to perform more tests on him.  The point that I remember being the most scared was when they took him in for a test on Sunday night after 10:00pm. 

On Monday, we were told that Dawson had a case of meningitis (they couldn't tell which kind due to the amount of medications he was on the two weeks that we were home) and a severe case of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.  He was immediately put on high doses of steroids to treat the ADEM.  We were told if everything went fine, he should be released from the hospital within a week.  Apparently everything did not go fine as Dawson stayed for three weeks.  We later found out that he was close to dying, but the doctors didn't want to tell us this for fear that our reaction would severely affect Dawson's emotions.

We went home and got to enjoy Geneva for exactly one week.  Dawson started running a very high temperature and was once again unable to walk independently so we called his pediatric neurologist in Omaha and she told us to bring him in right away.  His ADEM had flared up and they had to increase his medication.  Thankfully this time, Dawson was only hospitalized for a week.

He lasted about a year and had another case of a high fever.  Again we were told to bring him in to be looked at and it flared up once again.  This time my wife stayed with him for the week in the hospital. 

That was the last major problem we had with ADEM.  Dawson had to see his pediatric neurologist every three months for two years.  Every time we went he looked good, so we got to take down the dosage of his medicine.  Then he went every six months for a year, again reducing his medicine both times.   He was then deemed to be healthy enough to be off medication and we would not need to make any more appointments with the pediatric neurologist.

We were elated that, for the first time in many years, our whole family was healthy.  There is an interesting end to this story far beyond Dawson recovering from a near-death experience from his case of ADEM. 

Dawson (now the oldest of four sons), became such an active and energy-filled child that he started to run with me.  At this time, at the age of 9, Dawson has completed 5 half marathons (13.1 miles), a 12K trial race, and many more 10K's, 5K's, and 2 mile races.  He has a room full of ribbons, medals, and a trophy for his running ability.  Dawson was chosen for the first ever Omaha World-Herald (NE) Healthy Kid Award.  He was even picked by Runner's World magazine as one of the most inspirational runners in America.  He is featured on the foldout cover of the December 2011 issue and the accompanying YouTube clip released from Runner's World:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r_P6f-m6K8

If anyone has any questions, comments or needs someone to talk to, I can be reached at dirkcoon44@yahoo.com

Photo captions
Notice how chunky Dawson's face is from the heavy doses of medication
His first 1/2 marathon (13.1 mile race); at age 8 he placed 2nd in the male 18 and under division
Various races that Dawson has competed in over the past 2 years