FEBRUARY 2, 2020
Jon remains in critical condition and has been categorized as “the sickest patient at UCLA Medical”. Despite this unwelcome title Jon continues to fight. His body currently relies on life support for all of his main organs; with the exception of his brain which we believe remains unaffected (yay for small victories!).
While the health of all of his major organs play an important role in his recovery, his team places his heart at the center of that recovery right now. The life-saving equipment that was rushed from UCLA to Saddleback hospital in order to save Jon’s life shortly after he was admitted is called an ECMO. An ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) provides prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to Jon’s heart by removing blood from his body, oxygenating it, then putting it back into his system. An ECMO is a relatively new intervention for adults and is considered the highest form of life support one can receive. It also comes with a large list of side effects and possible complications. One of which is proper blood circulation to all of Jon’s body and extremities. Poor circulation remains a major concern for Jon, his doctors, and family as it has a rippling effect on Jon’s muscles and risk of growing infection in his bloodstream.
In addition to circulation concerns, the ECMO provides what his doctors refer to as a “vacation” for his weakened heart as it performs the job Jon’s heart would ordinarily do. When the heart is not operating normally blood tends to pool in both the right and left sides, causing concern for future clots. In order to prevent this, Jon received a successful procedure to drain the excess pooled blood from his heart shortly after arriving at UCLA.
Due to the severity of his heart failure, Jon’s ECMO was operating at the highest possible setting for the first four days. On Saturday, Jon’s doctors lowered his setting slightly in hopes that his heart would pick up the slack. Jon’s heart answered by doing just that! His left, formerly non-operating side, started pumping and his right side increased its pumping (another victory!).
Last week Jon had another procedure performed to further assist the operation of his heart. A device called an Impella was placed through a peripheral artery and from there started pumping blood to his heart. An Impella is only meant to provide temporary ventricular support and was removed two days later.
We are at the beginning of a very long and very difficult uphill battle for Jon’s life. His team of doctors remain hopeful and continually remind us that Jon’s recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. Jon has many more obstacles and procedures to overcome, each of which will be critical in sustaining his life. Although initially the family was uncomfortable with the GoFundMe platform of asking for money, the life-altering, and long-term financial consequences of Jon’s illness are quickly becoming apparent. It is almost impossible to assign an amount to the lifelong financial commitment but all donations, large or small are appreciated. As a result we have raised the goal for this GoFundMe campaign to more accurately reflect the mounting difficulties that lie ahead for the Watson family.
Again, we cannot express our most heart-felt gratitude to the dedicated and vast team at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical. We also couldn’t be more grateful for the amazing outpour of support and love from our nation-wide community. We welcome and rely on the support you have all provided the Watson family as they continue to fight alongside Jon.