2013 CMN Miracle Child Vedder Medina

Vedder Medina is 15 years old. He has played many sports throughout his life but his passion for football has surpassed his passion for other sports. One morning he wakes up with a fever, a fever that started the most difficult time Vedder has ever had in his lifetime.

“I woke up in the morning to get ready to school and I had a fever,” said Vedder while sitting in the living room of his parent’s house. “When I was in the shower I noticed that my leg was hurting. I tried to walk out of the shower and I just started crying.”

Vedder thought that the pain might go away, so he still went to school. By noon, he couldn’t continue anymore so they call his mother Claudia Medina. “When I went to school to pick him up I saw that his friends were carrying him to my car. The next day he was telling me with tears in his eyes that he didn’t want to go to school because he had so much pain in his back.”

Vedder showed his back to his mother and there was a very noticeable deformity in his shoulder blades.  Claudia’s first reaction was to take him to El Paso Children’s Hospital where they met doctor Bert Johansson, pediatric Hospitalist and Intensivist at El Paso Children’s Hospital.  “Vedder was diagnosed with stephoreous osteomyelitis, is an organism that produced an infection in the bone” said Dr. Johansson. “Vedder’s case was very particular because he had an infection in two different levels of his spinal cord.”

According to Doctor Bert, If Vedder’s condition would not be treated promptly, two things might have happen, one being that Vedder’s vertebrae could collapse, which would result in damage to the spinal cord. The second thing is the bacteria created by that organism can easily gain entry to the central nervous system producing another series of complications including meningitis.

After six weeks of receiving a combination of intravenous antibiotics, Vedder was cured. He and his whole family express their gratitude with El Paso Children’s Hospital. “I truly believe that this place is heavenly, the staff, the whole team of caregivers and doctors are from a very special place.” The medina family still remains a good friend with Dr. Bert.  “Children’s Miracle Network makes it possible for me to practice medicine in ways that I’ve never been able to do in my career. I the community truly want to impact on a child’s and their family’s lives, right here in El Paso, contribute to Children’s Miracle Network. Help continue the miracle that this hospital represents; donate to Children’s Miracle Network.”