When you’re a parent, it can be frustrating to “know” something is desperately wrong with your child and be unable to fix it. Especially when doctors keep telling you it’s all fine. After taking her daughter to the pediatrician for months and watching the child “fail to thrive,” one mother was distraught. During one visit, the family was seen by a doctor filling in at the office for the regular doctor. That “substitute” doctor saved their little girl’s life by ordering a series of bloodwork.
In a comment under the TikTok post thanking the doctor for saving their little girl’s life, the mom said, “He was like the 5th Dr that saw her. We went to neurologist, cardiologist, pcps, and the hospital. We were running into brick walls, all they had to do was run blood work.”
Dr. Zachary Johnson is a pediatric critical care medicine specialist at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. It may have just been blind luck that he ended up filling in at their pediatrician’s office, but for this little girl’s parents, it was an appointment they will never forget.
In the “Thank You” post, the mom doesn’t elaborate on her daughter’s condition, but she does respond to commenters with more detail. In several comments, the mom mentions the diagnosis as Protein Enteropathy with Severe Anemia.
The baby’s hemoglobin was only 2.5, causing her body to fill with fluids. The excess fluid was crushing her internal organs, which were responding by shutting down. It is not an exaggeration that the doctor saved this little girl. She was, indeed, “days away from dying.”
Moving On After The Doctor Saved Their Little Girl
The treatment included four blood transfusions and two iron infusions. The family spent four days with their little girl in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). As stated in a comment, the child is continuing to undergo testing to find any potential underlying conditions.
One thing is sure: these parents can continue raising their daughter knowing they have good instincts. After seeing several doctors, they still “knew” something was wrong. By continuing to seek answers, they had the chance to cross paths with their version of “Dr. House.” If you remember, he was the older TV doctor who could diagnose obscure diseases and problems when everyone else failed.
If a child exhibits signs of a problem, follow in the footsteps of these parents and continue seeking answers. That is how this hero pediatrician, Doctor Johnson, saved this little girl’s life. Whether you classify this as a “miracle” or not, it fits in the “being in the right place at the right time” category! We at InspireMore wish this little girl all the best through a long, healthy life!
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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