Local 2-year-old boys narrowly survives accident
Tallulah – To look at Axton Hazel Reap today, you would never know that a mere two weeks ago found the two-year-old boy fighting for his life.
While attending a local Vacation Bible School on July 24, Reap was sitting near the front of the church. As young toddlers do, he decided that his sitting arrangement needed to change, so Reap hopped up and trotted just two pews back – eyeing his father Josh.
Children fall. They run too fast, tripping over their own feet while still learning the limits of what their bodies can do. Reap turns three in November, but one sudden miscue almost cost him the chance at living a full life.
As he reached his father, Reap stumbled. The slight incline of the church aisle was his undoing; the unlikely culprit in what almost became a tragedy. While falling, the front of his neck collided perfectly with the corner of the seat.
“He started screaming, but it wasn’t his normal scream,” said Axton’s mother Becca Reap, who granted The Graham Star an exclusive Monday interview about the incident. “I looked at Josh and told him to take him out.”
Meanwhile, business continued as usual. Vacation Bible schoolers were performing a skit for those in attendance; at the most, Axton had taken a bad fall. A bruise would follow and the young boy would know for next time, right?
Until Josh swung open the side door of the church, getting Becca’s attention immediately.
“He said, ‘We gotta go. Now,’” Becca recalled. “I asked him what was wrong and he said, ‘We. Gotta. Go.’”
Still unsure of what was transpiring outside the church, Becca walked outside.
Immediately, her mood changed.
‘He can’t breathe’
When she laid eyes on her son, Axton’s neck had already swelled to a disproportionate size. Blood was seeping from his mouth.
Cell phone reception is spotty at the church, so after failed communication attempts from a now-frantic Becca, Josh took the phone and announced the family’s intentions. A local school resource officer, Josh asked for emergency personnel to be standing by at the county base off West Fort Hill.
The drive is five miles and normally takes an estimated eight minutes in light traffic. Becca estimates a much-quicker arrival time, as Josh defied the speed limit.
Any parent would, given the circumstances.
EMS workers greeted the Reap’s and quickly assessed the situation. A short time later, one of the responders approached Becca with a bit of reassurance.
“They told me I could come over (to the back of an ambulance). They said he had calmed down,” Becca said. “He was, in fact, not calmed down.”
Reports of solid vitals and the belief that Axton had simply bitten his tongue did little to quell the parents’ fears. Soon, he was rushed to Harris Regional Hospital – where the severity of the situation began to sink in.
“They take him back to CT and Josh is telling them he’s screaming, saying he can’t breathe,” Becca remembered. “Then I heard the radiologist say, ‘Oh, crap.’ I asked what was wrong and he said, ‘All of that swelling is free air. He either has a punctured lung, or something worse.’”
A short time later, the picture cleared up: a fractured trachea, with the added issue of his right lung showing signs of collapsing. The swelling in Axton’s neck was air, unable to escape.
Time was of the essence.
‘Planning a funeral’
Placing the young boy on a ventilator was one task the hospital was able to complete quickly, but finding a hospital with the skills required to undergo such a challenging repair proved to be a task.
“The doctor told us we had to get him out of there,” Becca said. “Then he tells us, ‘I’m not going to lie to you, it’s bad. If we had waited any longer, you would have been planning a funeral.’”
There was no time to dwell on the chilling thought. Weather prevented any helicopter transport to Asheville, Atlanta, Charlotte or even Knoxville.
“The doctor at Harris was amazing,” said Becca. “He finally asked where one of the hospitals would suggest and they said Vanderbilt in Nashville.”
A facility with one of the finest reputations in the country, Vanderbilt is a 228-mile, 4-hour drive from Robbinsville. Traffic can easily make the commute five hours.
With Mother Nature not cooperating, Vanderbilt could have easily turned away the Reap’s as well. Instead, they provided curbside pick-up.
“They drove through the night and made it to the hospital (in Sylva) at 6 that morning,” Becca explained. “They took him and made it to Nashville an hour before we did; Josh and I were on no sleep, so we had to take turns driving.”
Admitted to the trauma ICU at Vanderbilt, Josh and Becca met with an assortment of surgeons. The parents were still seeking assurance, but Axton’s survival was still not a sure thing.
“They told us that they couldn’t guarantee he was going to be ok, until they got in there and saw how bad the damage was,” Becca said.
Re-vented and stable, surgeons opted to let Axton – and the family – rest until Friday, July 26. After a 36-hour whirlwind, Axton underwent a procedure to fix the damage.
Prognosis: positive
Surgeons were prepared for the long haul, but Axton’s body had remarkably began to heal itself.
The child had a greenstick fracture, or when a bone breaks and bends to a point of cracking – yet does not snap apart.
“They said because of the doctor at Harris moving us quick, the fracture had already started healing,” said Becca. “They said, ‘I hope you’re aware that the doctor at Harris saved your child’s life; you would have been planning a funeral.’
“That was the second time I’d heard that. I thought I was going to throw up.”
The cold slap of reality notwithstanding, Axton emerged from the procedure and dove head-first into recovery. Unsure balance is one thing, but there’s another trait that toddlers possess: stubbornness.
Axton wasn’t going down without a fight.
“The stay at Nashville was amazing,” Becca touted. “All the nurses were fantastic. I probably asked them 110 questions and they answered every one of them. One thing I asked was how common this injury was in toddlers; the surgeon told me it was only the second one he had seen in 10 years.”
Just seven short days after disaster nearly struck, Axton came home.
Power of prayer
Physical and speech therapy still lie ahead. Another surgery is scheduled for October, just to make sure his trachea is healing according to plan. Axton even had to learn to walk again, due to his young age and the time he spent immobilized in a hospital bed. His diet is also limited to soft foods.
The story of Axton’s fall and recovery made the rounds on social media, with donations pouring in to help support the child and his family.
“People in California – and even my brother, who is in Japan – was praying,” Becca said. “I’m very, very thankful, because I’m not sure what would have happened if they hadn’t.”
Today, Axton has shed the estimated 18 pounds of fluid that had amassed in his body from all the medicine dispersed in the effort to keep him alive. He’s back to simply being a 27-pound, 2 ½-year-old boy – ready to take on the world. It will make quite the story to recount later in his life.
For now though, the Reap’s are just thankful for more time with Axton. He is the middle child of three total for Josh and Becca; a miracle, in more ways than one.
“I called my mom at one point and said, ‘I can’t lose my child,’” Becca admitted. “She said, ‘Becca, you’re not going to lose him. We’re praying.’ I’d have rather it been me. It was scary; it’s like a new fear unlocked with me (tripping and falling).
“But the doctor at Harris, Vanderbilt being able to come get him from five hours away? God had a hand in every aspect of the emergency.”