Milo and Carrie

A story of unconditional love

Dave Thomas famously said, “Every child deserves a home and to be loved. Period”.  This quote epitomizes Team Humanity member Carrie.

After giving birth to 3 biological children Carrie felt that she had more room in her heart, to open her home, as a foster parent to children who had medically complex conditions.  Carrie’s hands were full, but she knew her heart wasn’t.  She knew fostering children who needed medical care wouldn’t be easy, but she wanted to rewrite their story.  Belonging to a family is an essential component of a well lived life and Carrie knew it was her purpose to provide that component.

Carrie is a nurse by trade and spent one year off from college caring for her mother who was losing her battle with Lou Gherig’s disease. Carrie knows how to love, how to love well, and how to care for someone who is struggling. 

Milo entered the world in 2015 17 weeks early as a 23 week old micro-premie. 

Milo spent the first 8 months of his life in and out of the neonatal intensive care unit due to premature birth complications.  His lungs hadn’t fully developed when he was born and his body had a hard time regulating his blood sugar levels and general homeostasis.  Milo needed a lot of care, but more importantly someone to love him unconditionally.

When Carrie first met Milo she knew that he had the most infectious personality.  His nurses adored him.  He was affectionate and also loved receiving affection.  He craved connectedness. He was also inquisitive-curious about the world around him.  

Carrie was instantly in love with this bright, shiny star Milo.  She knew that he would need more care compared to non-premature babies but felt confident in her abilities as a nurse and foster mom to take care of him.

Milo was also born with a small hole in his heart, which is common for babies born as early as him.  At 8 months old he had surgery to repair that hole.  

Milo moved home with Carrie and eventually Carrie adopted him.  Yes, Carrie gave Milo the gift of his own family, but Carrie also received so much from him in return.  It was the perfect union.

Milo was delayed like most micro-premature babies.  He needed extra assistance and time to learn to walk, to use his limbs and communicate.  Carrie says, “this didn’t stop him-he is a very busy boy.”  Milo loved attending preschool and elementary school.  He was motivated to keep working at his motor and speech skills because he wanted to keep up with all of his friends.  He learned to walk and was making a lot of noises as he practiced his speech skills.

Carrie took Milo to many appointments during his first 6 years of life.  They had annual meetings with his cardiologist and was told that his heart was very strong and nothing they needed to worry about.  Carrie was so relieved to hear this each and every year.

In December of 2021 Milo’s doctors advised Carrie to have a port implanted to ease Milo’s discomfort with blood draws and IV’s.  He had continued to struggle with blood sugar and adrenal issues and the port allowed easier access into his central venous system.  While Milo was recovering from having the port implanted one of his doctor’s recommended that Milo receive his first Covid vaccine that day. (Correction 4/20/23).

This was on a Friday evening.  24 hours later on Saturday evening Milo was gasping for air at home with Carrie and had to take an ambulance back to the hospital.  By Sunday morning Milo was put on life support and was fighting for his life.  

Carrie was terrified.  How had this happened so quickly?  Milo went from busy bee first grader, loving school to not being able to breathe on his own.

4 days after his vaccine Milo was diagnosed with myocarditis.  He also had multiple clots the size of silver dollars in both arms.  He had developed left side weakness.  This had never been an issue for Milo in the past.  All of his physical and occupational therapists knew how strong Milo was on both sides of his body.  Milo was intubated.  His heart rate monitor couldn’t keep up.  His heart would be racing one minute and then dangerously slow the next minute.  His blood pressure was doing the same thing-racing and dropping.  

Milo spent 4 months in the hospital.  Many blood tests were ordered by the doctors to check his blood sugar levels, look for infection, and determine how his body was responding to the blood pressure medicine.  The phlebotomist technician would draw his blood and it would clot before they got it to the hospital lab.  This had never happened in the past.  Milo did not have a previous clotting issue. Eventually the technician set up a lab in Milo’s room so his blood sugar levels could be checked before his blood clotted.

After 4 months Milo was able to go home with Carrie.  However, he had to have a tracheostomy.  The trach would help to deliver oxygen to Milo’s lungs that had become very weak after being on the ventilator for so long.  Fortunately, Carrie had help from an in-home nursing program.  Milo did not like the trach.  He tried to rip it out multiple times.  He was desperate to get back to his normal routine.  Milo was doing so well before this all happened.  He was so happy, taking steps forward each day and now he was frustrated.

Unfortunately, it took one year for Milo’s lungs to get back to normal and to have the trach removed. His motor and speech skills also took a huge hit.  Milo has needed to use a wheelchair more than he did before his injury.  His vocal chords are also having to relearn how to make sounds and learn how to talk.

Carrie continues to fight for Milo and other kids like him. She believes that Milo’s story needs to be shared. 

In April of 2022 Carrie was at the Minnesota Capitol sharing Milo’s vaccine injury story with other injured Minnesotans.  The goal of this rally was to raise awareness about Covid vaccine injuries and request research and medical assistance.

One of our Team Humanity members was at the capital watching Carrie and others speak about their vaccine injuries.  Carrie brought Milo with her that day.  She describes how Milo became distraught as soon as his mom walked 10 feet away from him up to the stage to present.  Milo was inconsolable.  It brought tears to her eyes watching Milo so wanting to tell the world how much he loved his mom, that he knew he was chosen by her, that he was cherished by her.

Team Humanity feels so fortunate to have Carrie on our team.  She is a testament to unconditional wholehearted love.  

Milo is back at school and loving it.  In addition to spending time with his peers in the classroom he participates in physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and special education classes.  The staff at his school call him the Mini Mascot.  Everyone loves Milo. He is charismatic, happy and ready to give anyone a High 5 who walks by him.

Milo still struggles with left side weakness; and his heart and blood pressure continue to fluctuate dramatically.

According to VAERS, the national vaccine safety surveillance program, there are over 20,000 reports made by Minnesotans and their physicians about a Covid vaccine injury.  1665 of these reports are for children.  Milo’s injury is one of those reports.

Kids like Milo and stories like Milo’s need to be shared.  In order for us to move on as a society we need to hear the testimony of those who were injured.  We need to open our hearts to them and show them that their life, their truth matters.  We need to let them know they are part of our family.

All stories are edited and approved by the participant before the story is published.

If you would like to learn more about Milo here is a link to an article that appeared in Alpha News.  

https://alphanews.org/doctors-said-a-6-year-old-needs-the-covid-vaccine-now-he-has-myocarditis-and-cant-walk/