If any of you have been following the post I wrote back in December about 2 year old Lexi Antorino, then you know who I am talking about.
If you don't, here's a brief run down of what happened to her.
She was playing on a swing set with 2 other children in a neighborhood park while a 14 year old family member who was babysitting them, pushed each of them one by one. As Lexi swung forward, the other 2 children swung backwards. Suddenly as Lexi swung forward, the swing set collapsed and the support bar came crashing down pinning 2 year old Lexi underneath it. The support bar burst the main blood vessel in her brain and fractured the top of her spinal cord. She has remained in a coma at All Children's Hospital ever since. It was found that the swing set collapsed because some of the parts were missing from it, such as nuts and bots to hold it together. Whoever set the swing-set back up, didn't put it back together properly.
Well, since this accident happened, I have been trying to keep up to date on her condition. Yesterday, while looking online at the newspaper, I found a new article posted about her. The article states that Lexi will be leaving the hospital and going home in the next week. Good news right? No. Normally this would be good news, but for the family, they say this is just the icing on the cake. They are not prepared to bring her home and no where near ready. The hospital pretty much told them that since her condition hasn't really changed in the last month that Medicaid will no longer pay for Lexi to remain in the hospital and that she has to go, and she has to be out of the hospital within a week. Now mind you, her parents are 21 and 22 and the mother is 8 months pregnant and due to give birth to their second child next month. So let's just add a bit more stress to their lives, right? What the hell is wrong with the system? And who in the world made this decision?
Now they are spending time with the doctors and nurses to learn how to hook up all the machines and learn which sounds mean that Lexi is in distress and needs help. I can't imagine how scary it must feel to them to have their daughter in the hospital every day with people surrounding her in case something changes and she needs immediate help, to then be told that she must be out of the hospital within a week and now you need to learn how to work these machines and learn which sounds mean she's in trouble.
From what I understand she has been on life support, so all the equipment will have to be moved into their home. The family says they don't have the money for it.
So I'm asking you to help them. I don't know this family, only through the stories I've read online. A fund has been set up for Lexi. If you would like to donate, please visit any Synovus Bank and give Lexi's name. For more information, call the bank at 941-757-2265. Even if it's only $5 or $10, every little bit will help them. They need your help.
Please keep praying for Lexi as well. The family has been steadfast that Lexi will slowly recover. The latest sign, her grandmother said, is that the toddler pulls her arms or legs away when touched.
"It's a reflex she didn't have before," Parkinson said. "She's still hanging in there. Maybe it's just time."
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