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Say a prayer for Ahmuad Baldwin

Kj Dad

By Kj Dad
in High School Football 2015

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Kj Dad

Kj Dad

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17-year-old Ahmaud Baldwin was planning an exciting junior year at West Orange-Stark High School and playing nose guard for the Mustangs. Instead of practicing with the team in August, he spent most of the month in hospitals. Now he stays in bed at home. The school on Monday will start his homebound lessons.

“His life was changed overnight,” said his mother, Andrea Allen.

He developed rhabdomyolysis. The website mayoclinic.org describes it as “a rare condition that causes muscle cells to break down.” The condition upsets the chemical balance in the muscles and can lead to kidney failure and heart problems.

Medical websites report the causes can include muscle trauma, a crush injury or extreme physical activity.

Ahmaud’s ordeal began at football practice August 5. His mother said the school’s trainer called and said Ahmaud had “severe cramps all over his body and needed to be taken to the emergency room.” She left her job and called her husband. He ended up going to the emergency room and she went back to work.

When she got home after work, she expected to see them. Nobody was home. She made phone calls and found out Ahmaud was transferred to a Beaumont hospital, which was a surprise. He ended up in the hospital for nine days.

Then he rested for a week and went back to football practice. Again, the trainer called and said he was cramping and suggested Pedialyte might solve the problem. “This time, it was something different. He couldn’t stand up,” Allen said. They took him to the hospital again.

When doctors told them of the diagnosis–rhabdomyolysis, they were surprised. “I had never heard of it,” his mother said.

She thinks Ahmaud may have overexerted during the practice. He had worked at a fast-food restaurant during the summer and “didn’t work out as much.”

His parents decided to take him to a Houston hospital and he was admitted to Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. He was released last week.

During his hospital stays, his veins collapsed in his legs and arms. Nurses had to put intravenous pic lines in his neck. At one point he had three tubes in his neck.

Allen said the condition is so rare there are no physician specialists. Instead, kidney and heart specialists have been tending to his problems. She said a Beaumont doctor who has practiced medicine for 19 years had seen only one case of rhabdomyolysis before Ahmaud’s.

Ahmaud has been “pretty negative” about his condition and not being able to play football, according to his mother. She told him “I’d rather you be here than not be here.”

He hopes to be able to go back to school. “He can’t play (football) at all this year and probably can’t play next year,” his mother said.

She said the coaches and trainers at WO-S have been helpful. She credits the trainer with helping to save Ahmaud. “I just thank God they caught it in time because it can be fatal.”

A relative has set up a Gofundme account, Ahmaud’s Journey, to help the family pay medical bills. Allen said all the bills aren’t in yet and already are more $28,000.

 

 

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