Zack Mudd

Zack Mudd began convulsing in the middle of the parking lot at Jim Ned Middle School. His mother, assuming that he was behaving like a typical teenager, yelled out, "Zachary stop it you’re scaring me!" Zack, his baby brother and his mother were at Jim Ned Middle School when his episode of seizure began. Zack had been sick for a week and out of school. Knowing he needed to catch up on his homework, Zack’s mother took him to Jim Ned Middle School to retrieve his schoolwork. When Zack’s mother heard no response after calling to him a second time, she began to worry. Without hesitating she grabbed Zack’s books and threw them in the bed of the truck. She hoisted Zack into the truck as he began to shake more violently. This was no small feat because Zack weighs well over 100 pounds. She sped to the Trauma Center at Hendrick Medical Center, franticly calling her family on the way telling them to meet her at Hendrick. As Zack and his mother arrived at Hendrick, the Trauma Center team met them at the door with a stretcher. They rushed him straight back to a Trauma Room, his body still convulsing uncontrollably.

Several trauma team members restrained Zack as they began their treatment. His heart rate was dangerously low and his vital signs were unstable. Still having seizures he was not able to breathe. The Trauma Center personnel knew they had to work fast to help Zack. This was difficult because Zack’s body was fighting the trauma team’s efforts. After wrestling with Zack’s convulsing body he was finally intubated and his air passages were opened. Medication was administered to combat the seizures and after several hours of treatment, Trauma Center physicians were able to stabilize Zack’s vital signs.

After Zack’s heart rate had come back up, he was moved into Pediatric ICU at Meek Children’s Hospital at Hendrick. His plight was still not over. Zack was under close supervision and being monitored constantly by the nurses at Meek. Over the next six days his condition improved. He was slowly weaned off of a respirator under the caring supervision of the nursing staff at Meek. Zack returned home under the watchful eye of in home care. Zack now leads the life that he did before, reading books, well above the normal reading level for a thirteen year-old, and playing video games. Zack’s life was saved because he was able to get the right treatment fast with all the equipment and services he needed.

Zack is one of the thousand of miracles seen at Meek Children’s Hospital each year. By pledging to support Children’s Miracle Network you can touch the lives of children all over the Texas Midwest just like Zack. Funds donated benefit Meek Children’s Hospital, Hendrick Center for Rehabilitation and other Children’s services throughout Hendrick.