A 13-year-old Texas boy has been forced to undergo multiple brain surgeries and have a tube inside his skull after developing a life-threatening illness while swimming.
Christopher Bryant spent most of his summer diving with friends when suddenly over a week ago, he complained of ‘a horrible earache.’
His mother Kendra Smith said that overnight, the middle-schooler’s ear pain soon progressed to a severe headache and he woke up with a swollen eye.
Smith told NBC: ‘It happened so fast. It was surreal to me. It was terrifying. Then he just came home one day from swimming and say he had a horrible earache.
‘And then the next morning he woke up with his eye swollen. He couldn’t even open it.’
Christopher Bryant, 13, was forced to undergo multiple brain surgeries and have a tube inside his skull after developing a life-threatening illness while swimming
The concerned parent rushed him to a neighborhood ER as he continued to struggle with the pain and was barely able to talk. Officials redirected them to the Children’s Medical Center Dallas for treatment.
‘I just figured he would kind of be in and out maybe a day and three days later after we got here,’ Smith said.
But doctors at the medical center soon diagnosed Bryant with sinusitis that had spread to his brain – forcing him to undergo two skull surgeries.
Surgeons also inserted a tube inside his head to help with the recovery.
Despite the numerous surgeries and tube in his head, Smith remains grateful that her son made it out alive.
‘He means everything to me. He saved my life, actually,’ she said. ‘So he’s my best friend.’
His mother Kendra Smith said that overnight, the middle-schooler’s ear pain soon progressed to a severe headache and he woke up with a swollen eye
The concerned parent took him to a neighborhood ER as he continued to struggle with the pain and was barely able to talk. Officials redirected them to the Children’s Medical Center Dallas for treatment
Doctors at the medical center soon diagnosed Bryant with sinusitis that had spread to his brain – forcing him to undergo two skull surgeries
Dr Lasya Challa revealed that Bryant had developed an abscess behind the eye and puss on his brain that could have costed him his life.
She further added that of a bad case of a sinus infection can cause severe headaches, face swelling or pain, redness around eyes and eye pain, drainage not getting better and at times, seizures.
According to the CDC, sinus infections occur when fluid builds up in the air-filled pockets in the face. This fluid allows germs to grow in the face.
While most of the times these infections are caused by viruses, they may also be caused by bacteria.
