Boy with liver failure fights on in Seattle

Kyle Hickok, an 11-year-old Kalispell boy waiting for a liver transplant, remains at Children's Hospital in Seattle, battling back from several medical crises as he waits for doctors to repair four aneurysms in his brain.

According his mother, Lisa Vassar, plans call for transferring Kyle to Harborview Medical Center today for a procedure Monday to begin the repairs. She described the bulging spots in Kyle's brain blood vessels as ticking time bombs.

Vassar said on Thursday that she anticipated the procedures with a mixture of relief and fear.

"I'll be holding my breath," she said.

The Inter Lake began following Kyle's story last spring when he was on the list of people waiting for a donor liver. The family asked for help to ensure Kyle could travel by jet to make it to Seattle in time if an organ became available.

A follow-up Inter Lake story in December reported that Kyle had been airlifted to Seattle Dec. 23 after an aneurysm burst in his brain, knocking him off the transplant recipient list. Imaging revealed six others that could burst at any time.

Vassar has remained at Kyle's bedside since surgeons repaired the bleeding aneurysm plus two others in three operations over four days.

During those procedures, Kyle suffered two small strokes on the right side of his brain. But Vassar said he apparently had no long-term effects.

Surgeons postponed tackling the other four aneurysms, hoping the boy would gain strength. For every improvement, Kyle battled multiple setbacks.

"It's been a roller-coaster," Vassar said.

Since his December procedures, the young man has endured kidney failure, massive fluid accumulation, transfusions, and a lung infection. Kyle remains bedridden with all the associated miseries of living hooked up to lines for dialysis, medications, blood draws and bodily function support.

Yet, he has fought back from each crisis. The boy was heavily medicated for much of the time, unaware that weeks had passed.

When he came out of the fog, Kyle kept trying to ask his mother something through hand signals. Kyle couldn't speak because he had a breathing tube.

Vassar said he kept holding up one, then two fingers with a questioning look in his eyes. Finally, she realized that, in spite of his life and death battles, Kyle had Christmas on his mind.

"I told him, 'It's over but not for you. No one opened their presents. We'll have Christmas when you get back home,'" she said.

Kyle got a big gift on Jan. 11 when he got his breathing tube removed and could speak. For the first time in weeks, he could move his head around, open his jaw and wet his lips.

Vassar's heart warmed when he flashed her a big smile of relief.

"He tried to whisper, 'Hi mom' and 'I love you,'" she said.

Even though he was off the ventilator, Kyle was far from out of the woods. On Sunday night, his blood pressure shot up and he had pain in his side, leading to a CT scan that showed an infection in his left lung.

Antibiotics made him better by Tuesday but Wednesday brought more problems.

"Yesterday was pretty rough," Vassar said Thursday. "He had a fever of 105. Finally at 1 a.m., his fever broke."

On Thursday, she asked his medical team to commit to a surgery date. They decided on Monday, unless additional complications come up.

According to Vassar, the complexity of Kyle's condition requires that he have two specialists attending. The procedure, done by angioplasty, involves threading a catheter up through blood vessels to reach and then repair the weak spot by filling it with a coil.

Vassar said doctors told her, "Your little guy is on the very edge of the medical frontier."

But she knows that repairing the aneurysms is necessary for her son to receive life-saving transplants. Even if Kyle's kidneys don't heal as expected, Vassar said he could still qualify for transplants.

From the beginning, she said his organ transplant team considered the possibility that Kyle might need a donated kidney along with a liver.

Since her son's condition may change from day to day, Vassar encourages friends and well-wishers to visit the Web site www.caringbridge.org/visit/kjnh to read the journal she keeps of his condition.

People may also leave messages for Kyle by clicking on the guestbook. Vassar said they need to remember to click "save" after typing a message or it disappears.

So far, she said more than 327 people have visited Kyle's Caring Bridge site. Vassar said she benefits as much as her son when people take the time to send thoughts and prayers.

"I'll go on and read all the sweet things and then I cry and get it all out," she said.

Support helps all the more since Kyle's brother Cole Vassar and his dad, Wayne Hickok, recently had to return home.

Kyle's mother was grateful to people who have sent them donations and cards. People who wish to contribute may send them through Cole Vassar, P.O. Box 7132, Kalispell, MT 59904.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com