Knoxford Survives and Thrives After Stay in Intensive Care

My son, Knoxford, was airlifted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at East Tennessee Children's Hospital after drowning at a 4th of July celebration. One night while I snuggled Knoxford in our hospital room, his respiratory therapist stopped to ask, "Hey buddy, where's your cannula? Oh, it's on the floor! Look at you, overachiever!" It was a simple interaction that gave me my first laugh in days.

The PICU nurses took as much care of me as they did Knoxford while we were there. From the PICU to the second floor, the nurses and techs made us feel at ease and always explained everything to me.

Miss Rose from housekeeping became our favorite person to see. I’m sure it was a normal day for her, but she brought sunshine and laughter to the room whenever she came. The care team of therapists worked hard with Knoxford daily until it was time to transfer him to a more intensive inpatient rehab. Despite the nervous thought of leaving our "home" hospital and being even further from home, the transfer team helped to ease them as we waited for placement.

Three years later, Knoxford is thriving. He loves going to school and playing with his little brother, who's also been a patient at Children's Hospital. If it wasn’t for the first responders in McMinn County that night and our amazing team at Children's, I don’t know where we’d be.

-- Knoxford's Mom, Tierney