Micah Ray Patchin
Born: September 5, 2004 at 1:00 p.m.
Weight: 9 lbs. 11 oz.
Height: 22 inches

We hope you will join us in praying for the Patchin family as they go through a difficult time with Baby Micah. Please check back here on Tuesdays for updated status on Micah and how you can best support the Patchin family.

Micah's Diagnosis/Prognosis
Wednesday, September 7, 2005, 4:30 p.m.

Micah has been diagnosed with Early Myoclonic Epilepsy of Infancy (EMEI). This is an umbrella diagnosis which describes symptoms more than a cause. He has a rare neurological disease that effects his development and causes a seizure disorder. At first he was only given a year to live. Our first neurologist had 10 cases similar to Micah in her 20 years of experience, and they all died in the first year. These children all developed severe respiratory problems and ended up with pneumonia. Although this will always be a threat, it has not been a predominant issue. The ideology or cause of his ailments is unknown and may never be determined. The current prognosis as to length of life is unpredictable. Some have lived full lives into adulthood. Most are severely mentally retarded. They don't walk or talk or have good cognitive ability. Micah also has impaired vision, and it is undetermined what he can see. Although this sounds bleak, the reality is that God is in control and can change the course of Micah's life at any point. We hold on to our hope in a loving and gracious heavenly Father. We know He has a plan for good and that every day of Micah's life was ordained before one of them came to be. The ultimate prognosis is that he has the promise of eternity in heaven in a perfect body.


Prayer Requests

My Life Is Not A Tragedy
Music written and performed by Syria T. Berry
Lyrics adapted from Micah, a poem by Janet Mease
Copyright © 2004 Syria T. Berry
(MP3 Audio: 3.6 MB)

Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing
A sermon by Kelly Patchin — November 21, 2004
(MP3 Audio: 4.1 MB)

Micah
A poem by Janet Mease

Thoughts from Kelly and Jennifer

How Can I Help?


Latest News

Thursday, April 23, 2009, 9:30 a.m.

I am sorry that I wasn’t able to update sooner. I know my last entry left you hanging.

We went back to the doctor the next day, Saturday and got another shot of antibiotics. Micah was doing better at that point and the doctor said that his lungs sounded pretty clear, a big improvement from the day before. The shot of antibiotics seemed to be working. He started a third antibiotic orally too just to cover all forms of bacterial infection.

We decided with the doctor’s permission to go ahead with our plans to visit our families. We had a good visit with our family; however we had some car trouble. Our Excursion started smoking about an hour from our destination. God sent us some very kind and knowledgeable men to help us. We were able to get to our destination safely. Our car was in the shop the whole week and we ended up needing to have our transmission rebuilt. But we praise God that he protected us and provided for us and continues to grow our faith.

By Monday Micah was doing much better and starting to be more alert. By Wednesday he was smiling and much more responsive. He seemed to be over the symptoms from the pneumonia. Unfortunately by this past Sunday he started having many seizures that lasted until Tuesday night. I think that this was what they call status seizures where they have continuous seizure activity. Over those three days he had hundreds of seizures. Yesterday he was doing much better and was acting more like his normal self. We pray that he is on the mend and we won’t see anymore of that.

So we praise God that Micah recovered quickly from his pneumonia with no seemingly lasting damage to his lungs. We are so thankful that his seizure activity has decreased and that he is feeling better. The rest of the family is doing well too.
We can’t thank you enough for your prayers and know without a doubt that God is answering. God’s richest blessings to you all.

Friday, April 10, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

After spending four hours at Kaiser today I thought I would give you an update. Blake seems to be fine, but I have antibiotics for him just in case. Micah had elevated heart rate and breathing today. The doc had a bunch of blood work done, which can be a nightmare in itself, but praise God that it went smoothly. Micah got a shot of antibiotics, and his blood tests looked pretty good. I have to take him back tomorrow at 2pm and make a decision then about further treatment. Please continue to pray. Pray that the antibiotics will work. Pray that he will keep hydrated. Pray that his lungs will work fully and clear quickly. We are needing to make some changes in his pain regiment so as to see his lungs at full capacity without drugs. It could be a long night. As of now the doctor said we should not plan to go visit our family.

Kelly also is feeling pretty miserable and has very little voice. Pray that his voice would be restored for Easter Sunday.

Thank you and counting on your prayers.

Thursday, April 9, 2009, 12:30 p.m.

Micah has his first official case of pneumonia. We are so thankful that he has been free from this kind of infection for so long. All of our kids have been sick over the last week. Micah had been sick prior but had a relapse again a couple days ago. Because of the high fever and labored breathing, I knew it could be an infection. The good news is that the x-ray showed cloudiness in the lower chambers of his lungs which would indicate a secondary bacterial infection from the virus we have all been fighting. That means it should be treated with antibiotics and that he will recover as opposed to aspiration pneumonia which would show in the upper part of the lungs and can be chronic, especially for kids like Micah. So far his oxygen and breathing is good. He is still running a fever and having a hard time keeping his food down. So far today he is tolerating feeding slowly, but I can tell he is really fighting to keep it in.

Please pray that the antibiotics will work quickly.

Pray that his fever will go down and he will be able to keep his food and meds down.

Pray that he will get rest and not be in pain. He is really miserable when not sedated.

Pray that this will not be the start of his battle with pneumonia and that he will make a full recovery without compromise to his lungs.

Pray that he will be able to stay out of the hospital.

The rest of our kids are still recovering as well and are still not feeling well. Pray that the whole family will come to a full recovery.

Also, we are planning on traveling this next week for our Spring Break to visit our families. Pray that we will be well enough to go. We do not want to take Micah far from home and the medical care he needs if he is not better. Also Kelly's dad cannot afford to be exposed to our illness. We so value your prayers and ask that you cry out with us to our mighty God who can heal.

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