December 16th

You know I never thought it would take me an entire year to write this, but here we are a year later on the other side of two near death experiences and I’m just now ready.

It all started the third weekend of December 2019. My mom was watching the kids and called to tell me that both of them seemed to be under the weather suddenly. I immediately thought about the phone call I had gotten the Thursday before from Tyson’s teacher saying one of his classmates had the flu. Tyreke and I both decided that it would probably be fine to let Tyson go back to school because that child wasn’t going to be there and it was only one day left in the school week anyway. Well boy were we wrong. 

Sunday night after picking the kids up from my mom’s house Tyson and Jordyn just didn’t seem like themselves. They weren’t running around and playing like usual and they both were really whiny. In the middle of the night they both started crying about how bad they felt so I put Jordyn in the bed with me and Tyreke went to sleep in the guest room with Tyson. They both had pretty rough nights with Tyson having diarrhea and Jordyn having a low grade fever. 

The next morning neither of them really had appetites; they both were extremely sleepy and by then Tyson had a fever too. I told Tyreke as soon as Jordyn wakes up for real and not just to drink water (because that’s what she was doing all night) then we were going to take them to the hospital. 

While the kids were sleeping, Tyreke and I took some time to talk and just be in each other’s company for about 20 minutes. He gets up to go check on the kids and the next thing I hear is him screaming. SHAKEIRA, SHAKEIRA COME QUICK! I jumped up and ran to the room to see Jordyn in our bed knocked out and she had soiled herself. Now if you know me then you know I potty trained both of my children before the age of two and Jordyn has never had an accident since then. So I was immediately concerned. 

We tried waking her up and calling her name but she wouldn’t respond. I had Tyreke bring her into the bathroom so I could give her a bath. The entire time I was saying her name and asking her to talk to me but she only opened her eyes to look at me, she couldn’t speak. I sat her on the toilet to see if she needed to use the restroom again and she started shaking uncontrollably. I started screaming and called for Tyreke’s help. By that time he had already woken up Tyson and was getting him ready so we could head to the hospital. I gave Jordyn a bath but she still wasn’t talking to me. I was asking her my name and even her own name but she couldn’t tell me anything, she could barely stand and definitely couldn’t walk. We hurried and got dressed and left the house in a rush. 

We only live about a 15 minute drive from the hospital but Tyreke was zooming so I just knew we would get there in like 10 minutes. But then as he was changing lanes to get off the exit our car STOPPED! He tried to restart it and nothing happened. Tyson was in the back seat looking so sick and helpless and Jordyn was still unresponsive with her head just hanging to the side, eyes barely opened. Tyreke jumps out the car and starts waving down the passing cars trying to get help. I’m on the phone with 911 but I’m screaming so much the lady is having a hard time even understanding me. 

Out of nowhere this man, who I later find out is named Jose, stopped and told Tyreke he would take me and Jordyn to the hospital. Apparently he was on his way to see his grandson being born so he was headed in that direction. I hung up on 911, grabbed Jordyn out of her car seat and jumped into the front seat of the mans pick up truck. Tyreke stayed behind with Tyson because there wasn’t enough room for all of us. 

Jose gets us to the emergency room in no time. He was driving like he knew us and completely understood what we were going through. I jumped out of his truck with Jordyn in my arms and said thank you as I was running into the emergency room doors. 

When I got inside all I could do was yell out “ SOMEBODY HELP ME MY DAUGHTER IS UNRESPONSIVE AND SHE HAS SICKLE CELL”. They rushed us to this room and laid her on this big table. Nurses and doctors and so many people surrounded Jordyn that I could barely see her. I called my mom to tell her what was happening and texted my ride or die sister praying crew. The doctors were hooking Jordyn up to all these different IV’s and trying to get her to talk. She started grabbing at all the cordes and was screaming no no no. I was a little relieved because up until then she hadn’t spoken any words but I was still scared out of my mind.  I was trying not to show it because I felt like I needed to be in control to be the best for Jordyn and to make sure I knew exactly what they were doing to her. They did X-rays and rushed her down for a CAT- scan. By that time they have given her some kind of medicine and a ton of fluids. I looked up and my mommy came busting into the room. I have no idea how she got back there or how she got to us so fast but that didn’t matter. She was crying and asking about Tyreke and Tyson. She immediately anointed Jordyn and I told her I needed her to go get Tyreke and Tyson.

Tyreke and Tyson were still on the side of the highway this entire time. He was trying to call people to see if they could pick them up and he was trying to get the piece of crap (I want to say something else but my mommy is going to read this) car towed. Because we left the house in such a rush we forgot to pack the kids bags, so Tyreke was on the side of the road with nothing. We always and I mean ALWAYS pack a back for the kids. It consists of water, snacks, hand wipes and Clorox wipes. From what Tyreke told me, Tyson was extremely thirsty and looking sicker by the minute. My mom eventually made it to them and brought them to the hospital. 

By the time Jordyn got put into a regular room in the ER, Tyson was already in a room, so they put them in side by side rooms. My village started showing up even though I told them not to. They didn’t  listen and I’m happy they didn’t. It felt good seeing their faces. The doctor finally came in after running tests on both the kids and he told me he thinks Jordyn has meningitis and also had several seizures. He also said she needs to be moved to ICU. I walked over to Tysons room and he told me Tyson also has to be admitted but he doesn’t have to go to ICU. However it looks like he will definitely need a blood transfusion because his hemoglobin was extremely low. 

My mom was going back and forth from room to room praying over the kids and just before we were about to go to ICU with Jordyn I looked at her and asked her one more time if she knew who I was. She opened her eyes and said “ Mommy”. I broke down, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever hear my baby say that again. I went over to Tyson’s room to have Tyreke ask her the same thing and she recognized him too and my mom. I think it was in that moment that I knew no matter what we were about to go through God was going to be with us and we would make it out on the other side of this. All four of us!