Speaker A
Basically, I wanted to have you. I wanted to have you guys all together because we all got to experience some pretty, like, really incredible stuff with Malachi.
The Conover Family shares the emotional journey of their son Malachi's final days living with liver failure and the medical challenges they faced.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- Liver failure can cause severe complications including bowel obstruction and internal bleeding.
- Critical care often involves rapid, skilled medical interventions like blood transfusions and intubation.
- Emotional and spiritual support is vital for families facing terminal illness.
- Patients can remain mentally alert and express gratitude even in life-threatening conditions.
- Open communication and presence of loved ones provide comfort during medical crises.
What the video covers
- The family recounts the sacred and difficult experience of Malachi's last days with liver failure.
- Malachi faced a partial bowel obstruction causing severe pain and complications.
- An emergency event led to Malachi being rushed to the ICU with massive internal bleeding.
- He received 15 bags of blood in a transfusion, nearly replacing all his blood.
- Malachi was intubated to safely perform a CT scan due to vomiting and risk of suffocation.
- Despite critical conditions, Malachi remained coherent, polite, and grateful to caregivers.
- The family describes the intense medical interventions and emotional moments at the hospital.
- Malachi expressed his desire to live and gratitude to his mother and medical staff.
- The video highlights the complexity of liver failure and its impact on other organs like kidneys.
- The family shares personal reflections and the spiritual significance of their experience.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Family Gathering
- 03:23Emergency ICU Admission
- 06:35Intubation and Medical Interventions
- 10:10Diagnosis of Bowel Obstruction
- 13:23Malachi's Wishes and Family Reflections
- 16:47Kidney Failure and Dialysis
- 23:08Emotional Moments and Family Support
- 29:48Final Days and Spiritual Reflections
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Obviously, like crazy hard, but like undeniably, like I guess you could say, like holy and sacred, you know. And so, since, you know, our family and your brother, I wanted to like kind of tell you all this stuff. So, or at least what
Speaker A
I, whatever I could remember still. [snorts] So, as you probably recall, you know, your sis, your brother, and sis, your sisters were here from Texas. Seth was here, Malachi's best friend. They all kind of left. Malachi was about to be
Speaker A
discharged and then a turn of events the day before he's going to be discharged.
Speaker A
He had like kind of an emergency situation and then kind of things started going real downhill from there.
Speaker A
Yes, ma'am. And from that point on, he ended up just in a lot of pain. And we found out later that his, um, small bowels, you know, you have your small bowels and then your large intestines, 'cause small bowels had like a kind of like
Speaker A
a, they thought it was an obstruction which would make you throw up, make you not be able to digest food and stuff like that. And I guess it was a partial obstruction, but the problem is like I guess every time you talk you, you suck
Speaker A
in air and stuff and normally it just goes through your digestive tract or you burp it up or whatever. Well, for him, he wasn't able to do either and it just kept getting built up and built up and
Speaker A
like more trapped. And I don't know if you've had any, any like gas pain before, but it is excruciating and especially like a bowel obstruction. They, like, some people have said like it's worse than like childbirth. It's like the
Speaker A
worst pain ever. So he was in a lot of pain thinking that it was like his very full belly, you know, from the fluids being built up. And so on Monday he was, um, kind of begging them to do a
Speaker A
paracentesis and drain his tummy. And because of the emergency situation that happened a few days before, they were kind of like afraid to because his, his blood pressure kept dropping and that could really do him in, you know, if
Speaker A
they did a paracentesis and had that problem. Well, Monday, as you know, is like my busiest day of the week. You know, do all the, you know, I got all the things Monday morning that are commitments. And I just kept feeling in
Speaker A
my spirit like all Monday morning like got to get back to the hospital. Got to get back to the hospital. And finally, after I did like as much as my commitments that like Travis couldn't do by himself and I like had to be there
Speaker A
for, I was like, "Honey, I just, I have to go and I got to go to the hospital." And so I went to the hospital and on my way driving there, I was like maybe about 15 minutes out. It was like high
Speaker A
traffic time, you know, like in the afternoon. And the hospital called me, which never happens. And they're like, "Uh, Miss Connover, uh, there's been an emergency and Malachi is being, um, you know, like emergency, like he's going to the ICU." And I'm like, "Oh my
Speaker A
gosh, I'm going to be there in like five, 15 minutes." And they're like, "Okay, he's in room whatever." He told, they told me whatever room he's in.
Speaker A
Mhm. And so I like flew in there, you know, running up the stairs, running into his room. And as I like go up in there, they had just got him in the room. And there were probably and that was the last room
Speaker A
that you guys all saw him in. That was the room that he passed in. That was Monday. And I like went in there. I went up in there and I'm like, "Hey." And he's like, "Hey." And, um, I didn't want to like be in the way
Speaker A
because there were so many people in and out and they, so I kind of like stepped out of the room. They saw that I was there but there were literally probably like and you saw how big the room was.
Speaker A
There's probably like 30 or more people in there literally like running like frantically running around. It was amazing to watch the level of skill and like how fast they worked like doing all the things that they were doing to him
Speaker A
and the people that were running in and out of the room. They were bringing in all sorts of stuff, taking out stuff and they were bringing in coolers of blood for him and like plasma and like blood products. And that's when they ended up
Speaker A
giving him, they gave him like when you get a blood transfusion, you get a bag of blood, right? And the blood goes in your body. They gave him 15 bags of blood that night.
Speaker A
15. And a, a, a person his size to completely like replenish all the blood in your body, it would be 12 to 15 bags. So basically, he like didn't have any of his own blood almost. Like that's how much blood he
Speaker A
got that night. And they completely saved his life. And they told me that night that he probably, it was very unlikely that he would live through the night.
Speaker A
And, um, I, I heard at one point when they were call, you know, I heard I was watching everything and seeing the doctors talk and I was directly across the hall, but I could hear everything and see most of
Speaker A
it. And I heard somebody say, "Where's his mother? Does somebody have his mother's phone number?" And so I called.
Speaker A
I'm like, "I'm right over here." And they're like, "Who, where, who said that?" And all the other, the people like pointed over to me. And so this doctor came over to me and she's like explaining to me what's going on and how
Speaker A
they think that, um, somehow he has some massive internal bleed. And, uh, they need to, they said because he was vomiting, um, they need to probably intubate him which means you remember how he had that breathing tube put him to sleep
Speaker A
so that they can do a CT scan because they, they were like if we put him in for a CT scan you have to lay perfectly still and if he throws up, you know, he would, he would suffocate and so they're
Speaker A
like the safest way to do that and we have to do it right now, you know, and she's telling, telling me this and I'm just like, you know, crying and she's like, "I'm so sorry." Like, and she's like, "Do you
Speaker A
want to go in there and talk to him one more time before we intubate him?" And I said, "Yeah, absolutely." And so I, so I go in there and it's like everybody in the room kind of steps back, you know,
Speaker A
and like lets me have my moment with Kai and he's like, "Mom, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." I'm like, "Honey, like," and even all the nurses were like, "You don't need to say sorry. You didn't do anything wrong." He goes, "I did. I, I so
Speaker A
wanted to get my, a paracentesis. They asked me if I would be dizzy, if I was dizzy at all. And I, I lied to them. I told them that I wasn't dizzy 'cause I wanted to get, you know, my tummy
Speaker A
drained so bad." And I'm like, "Honey, it's okay, you know, and it's, it's going to be okay." And, and he's like, "Are, are any of my arms free? Can I hug my mom?" And they're, they all like come over to him
Speaker A
and they're like pulling stuff off and they're like, "Yeah." And they like freed his arm up, you know, and he like gives me this hug and like not wanting to let go. And he's like, "You've been the best mom and I'm so thankful for
Speaker A
you. Thank you for all that you're doing for me." And I'm like, "Well, you're going to be okay." You know, like, and he's like, "Just thank you." And he's like, "And thank you." He kept telling all the nurses, "Thank you," you know,
Speaker A
and he was like so polite. And later on, like several days down the road, some of those workers that were in there that night were like, "Yeah, I was there that night when we thought he was going to die." And I
Speaker A
could not, I have never seen someone with a hemoglobin of three normally not even alive, um, you know, or passing like fully coherent and fully like talking and like fully with it like that. And they're like and he was so sweet and so polite
Speaker A
and, um, so they went to, so they intubated him. They kind of like put him out a little bit, intubated him, and then they're like, "Oh, I'm so sorry. We forgot to take his sweatshirt off." And they're like, "This looks like a really nice
Speaker A
sweatshirt." And they're like, "Is it okay if we cut it off?" An
Speaker A
shirt off and stuff. And um [sighs] that night Travis came and spent the night there. And we both like spent the night there. And he I think Travis left at like 5:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m. And at that point
Speaker A
they had like stabilized him more and he was going to like they thought that they had what they had figured out is um they think when they went to do the paracentesis that they and this is a really common
Speaker A
thing like that's why they say there's always like potential side effects or you know um I don't even know what you complications complications yeah risk there's always associated risk and they accidentally sever covered like a a vein or
Speaker A
something. And so that's what happened. And he started like bleeding out that vein. And so um that's where all the massive blood loss came from, they think. And so um they ended up stabilizing him, you know, and then he
Speaker A
was gosh, so that was like Tuesday, Wednesday or so. And then um you know, we kind of spent and then Mrs.
Speaker A
crates ended up flying in. And at that point, he was a lot more like coherent, but just in a ton of pain. And that's when we figured out that he had that obstructed bowel. And the reason why he
Speaker A
had that was because his belly was so filled, you know, like with it was like squishing his intestine so much and trapping all that in there. And you know, when you're having all these drugs and stuff, it slows down your digestion.
Speaker A
So they were trying to get it to move, but then the pain meds at the same time are like counteracting that and like slowing it down. And so this poor guy is in a lot of pain, but it was really a
Speaker A
blessing that Mrs. Christ could come because um she's like one of his favorite people in the whole world, you know, and she was able to spend a couple of days with him like just fully talking and stuff. But she told me like and then
Speaker A
and then she made it to where I could um leave and go home, you know. But after she spent the first night there just everything that she kind of reported back to me, I was like, "Oh my gosh,
Speaker A
like I need to not I need to be there and spend the night even though she's here because I don't know how much longer he has, you know, and he seems like he's going downhill so fast." And I
Speaker A
was feeling like obviously panicky about that and trying to figure out every possible thing that I could do to reverse it, you know. And in the meantime, you know, he's intubated. We finally get the we finally get it to where he can
Speaker A
get that out, which that alone was a miracle cuz normally that takes a while.
Speaker A
But he was fully he was like awake intubated, which had to feel horrible, I'm sure. But hospice team kept coming in which is like the end of life care and talking about like you know the fact that there's not
Speaker A
really any way for him to live like so we should probably just kind of let nature take its course and just kind of let him pass and talking to me about ways how we can do that. And at that
Speaker A
point, Malachi was like, "No, I want to live." And no, I want if I start to die, like I want you to resuscitate me. And you know, you could see that they were like and and even so much so like they
Speaker A
put him on drugs because of the intubation. And so there he was technically kind of incoherent and they're like he's like well you're the power of attorney for you know the directive or whatever for his health so you can make that
Speaker A
decision. And I was like I can't I can't I can't go against what he keeps saying that he wants. You know if he's fighting to live I'm not going to take that away from him. You know I'm just
Speaker A
going to do everything that I can to fulfill his wishes. you know, and so during that time, um, one morning, hospice literally came three times before and had long talks with me before even lunchtime. And I was just so
Speaker A
disheartened. And even during that time, he was awake and they asked him, "Kai, do you want to be resuscitated? Like, if you, you know, need to be cuz it would cause a lot of trauma on your body and
Speaker A
it might be do more damage than good." And he even wrote down on a piece of paper, "Yes, I want to live. Yes, I want to be resuscitated." And I was like sitting there after they left the third time and I was just, you
Speaker A
know, I I was just like, "God, I I don't know what to do." Like, I this is really hard, you know? And I just sat there for probably like an hour just sitting there doing nothing. But like kind of like doing one of those prayers
Speaker A
where you're like just listening. And during that time, one of our followers like contacted me and they're like, "I think I have an option for a third transplant for him." And I'm like, "What?" And so I was just like I messaged her
Speaker A
back and I'm like, "What do you mean?" and she's like, "I've been doing all this behind the scenes work and I've called all these doctors and like spoke with all these different people and I even," she's like, "Can I give you a
Speaker A
call?" And so I spoke with her over the phone as this woman from California and she said, "I spoke with all these teams of people at Stamford University, which is a very similar hospital as Emory University, which is of it's a teaching
Speaker A
hospital." And she said they take on extreme cases that other people won't. and I've helped like five or six people when all the all these other hospitals said no and I'm like so then my hope is like starting to rise you know and she's
Speaker A
you know so so then I'm like okay so what so we start kind of get that ball rolling you know and then I talked to Malachi and he was like like he's like that would be this is what he said he's
Speaker A
like that would be sick [laughter] and he was like excited about it And but there was all these like hoops to go through, right? Like he'd have to get a medical transport, which means like he would have to fly on a special airplane,
Speaker A
the team of doctors, all these like all this medical equipment, stuff like that. And that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, you know, and there's just like all these different hoops to jump through for that to happen. And then who knows if he would
Speaker A
even potentially even be strong enough, you know, at the other end, which is very also very unlikely. But because of that, the doctors at Emory were like, "Well, I don't see any possible way he could survive a third transplant, but
Speaker A
you know, we'll do whatever you want." And they were really great about that. They're like, "If we'll just do what you want, you know, until we can't." And so because of that, they decided to put him on diialysis. And Malachi was going
Speaker A
downhill so fast that he could not think straight. He was like you would and he was just moaning all day long. He was just like had his eyes shut all the time moaning. And you'd be like, "Hi, open
Speaker A
your eyes." You're Were you guys Did you guys go visit him during that time?
Speaker A
I think so. So you guys went to visit him during that time. You'd be like, "Hey, Kai, open your eyes. Can you open your eyes for us?" And it was like a massive effort for him to just even open his
Speaker A
eyes for a minute. Like that's how extreme he was. So because of this Stanford thing, the hospital decided to put him on uh dialysis because his kidneys were shutting down and that's why he was getting that way because your
Speaker A
liver not working also makes your kidneys shut down over time. And so because his kidneys were shutting down, they put him on dialysis, which was not a guarantee, but they thought they would try. And that within like one day really
Speaker A
turned him around quite a bit. And so they put him on diialysis on Saturday.
Speaker A
And then Sunday um he had like his first like real coherent day where he was more like, you know, he wasn't his happy self, but he could communicate again.
Speaker A
I think I was there for that morning. Yeah. When I went. Yeah, I think so. and he um yeah, he he would be able to communicate. He was just kind of short like he wasn't super talkative like his
Speaker A
normal talkative self. Um and so we had a day and towards the end of the day, it was probably like five or six, he was sitting there and he's like, "Mom," he's like, "Can I uh can I let go?" or
Speaker A
something like that. And I was like, I get up from my seat and I go over there.
Speaker A
I'm like, "What?" Like, I'm thinking he's like got something in his bed, you know, like hooked up that he wants moved or something like that. And he's like, "No." I'm like, "What what do you need to let go of here?" And he's like, "No,
Speaker A
can I can I just be done? I'm just I can't do this anymore." And I was like, "You mean you mean like go be with [clears throat] Jesus like done?" He's like, "Yeah, I'm I'm ready." And I was just like I'm like, "Well,
Speaker A
kind, you know, it's it's your life, you know, like it's not my life, you know, if you're if you if you if you want to keep fighting like then I will fight for you, you know, just like I have been.
Speaker A
But if you if you're ready to let go, yeah, I mean, nobody would blame you. I don't think anyone would have even gone as far as you've gone, you know, like you've fought so hard and you've made such an impact, you
Speaker A
know, on so many lives. And you know, I just was encouraging him. He was like, "Do you think it's going to hurt?" And I was just like, "What? I don't know if it is, but um I can tell you what the
Speaker A
hospital's plan of action for that was. And I just kind of explained the whole process of how the hospital was going to what they would do was would be taking him off of his meds cuz he at that point
Speaker A
he had really high blood pressure meds that were keeping it cuz his blood pressure kept crashing and you know obviously the the dialysis was keeping his kidneys working. And I said that they would they would wean you off of
Speaker A
that and they would just put you on really heavy uh pain meds so that you would go peacefully.
Speaker A
And I said the only problem with that is when you're on those heavy pain meds, you won't be able to really communicate with anyone. So if you're wanting to communicate with somebody before then, you know, you should probably do that.
Speaker A
You know, just keep that in mind. He's like, look at I think I will like that.
Speaker A
I might Okay. He's like, "Okay." He goes, "Well, you should probably tell all the people online and tell all my followers." And I was like, "Okay." I'm like, "I will, Kai, but I'll probably wait a little bit to tell everybody." He's
Speaker A
like, "Well, they've been working so hard for this third transplant." And I'm like, "You're right." And at that at that point it seemed like everything was lining up because the doctors and I even like some of our followers found a you
Speaker A
know how I said it would be hundreds of thousands of dollars for him to fly out there. They even got him a free transport to go out there. Like it seemed like all the stars were lining up you know. But he was just like, he goes,
Speaker A
"I just don't see any way that I can recover after this. Even if I get another transplant, I don't I don't think I can go through that." I was like, you know, okay, like, you know, that's that's the most important thing
Speaker A
is how you feel about it, you know. And so he was like, "Well, do I need to like who should I see, you know, one last time? Like, you know, who could I who how long would it take
Speaker A
people to get here?" I'm like, "Well, grandma and grandpa are already on the way, so they actually should be here any minute." And um like, "Who else do you want to see?" He's like, "Well, I really want to see
Speaker A
Isaiah." Cuz he hadn't seen he hadn't seen you at all. And you guys had all just like come there and visited.
Speaker A
And I'm like, "Well, actually Isaiah's crazy enough. Isaiah's actually on his way here right now." And so he should be here tomorrow. And then he's like, "And I I want to I you know, be fine for dad to come one more time." I'm like,
Speaker A
"Okay." And he's like, "Well, what about Sky and Sage?" I'm like, "Well, I think they kind of already said goodbye to you, you know, just like last week. That's why they flew out here." He's like, "Okay." Like, "Well, they might like to FaceTime
Speaker A
you." And he's like, "Yeah, I would like that." He goes, "But I want to do that tomorrow because I'm I'm just too tired today." Like, "All right." He's like, "Okay." And so after that, um, there was just like a lot of peace and
Speaker A
you could tell that he was just like resolute in his decision, you know, and he was just really peaceful after that.
Speaker A
And I'm like, well, do you want me to read you the word a little bit? He's like, I love that. And so I read him Psalm 139, which is the psalm that talks about, I knit you in your mother's womb
Speaker A
and how you're fearfully and wonderfully made and like I have more thoughts for you than the sand on the sea, you know, like that type of verse. So I read that to him and as I was reading that to him
Speaker A
at the very end, grandma and grandpa walked in and they walked in and um Malachi was like, "Mom, I just want you to know um I'm really grateful. Like I'm really thankful for all that you've done for me. you're like the best mom and he just
Speaker A
went on and on about he just went on and on about all this like really sweet stuff, you know, to me and you know I'm like crying and well actually back up. when he told me that he was like ready to go before I
Speaker A
read the verses to him, I told him all that type of stuff, you know, about how proud I was of him and how, you know, I just went on and on to him about what a great, you know, how awesome God made
Speaker A
him. And he told he did that to me as soon as grandma and grandpa got there which was so cool because they were standing there got to like hear the whole thing and it was like so touching and then he like
Speaker A
gave me a big hug. Actually, I think grandma took a picture of him giving me a hug.
Speaker A
[sighs and gasps] And then um and then grandma went over there to say hi to him and she was she said something and I actually got the whole thing on video I think most of it and she's like, "You're
Speaker A
doing such a good job fighting, you know, you're doing such a good job hanging in there." And and he goes, "Well, yeah, actually not anymore." And she's like kind of like, you know, yeah, you're you're doing great, you know. And he goes, well, I
Speaker A
have to tell you, um I can't remember what he did. I I I videoed it, but he said something like um I'm ready to go.
Speaker A
No. And he said, I think I'm probably going to pass um probably going to pass tomorrow or the next day, which would have been Monday or Tuesday because this was Sunday.
Speaker A
And you know, she was like crummy and she was like, "It's okay." You know, and holding his cheek and, you know, kissing him and just saying all sorts of really sweet, assuring words, you know, to him. And then um grandpa
Speaker A
uh, you know, said some things to him or, whatever. But so that was that night. And then right after that, he was like, "I'm just in a lot of pain. I really need some pain meds now." and he
Speaker A
had gone all day without pain meds at that point. So, I think that's probably why he was so coherent as well. But at that point, he was really like going downhill. And I'm like, I'm going to go home for just like a couple hours, you
Speaker A
know, and I just I need to go home and tell the other kids, you know, so that they know. Um, and then I'm going to come back home. And he's like, um, can you just not go yet? can you just wait
Speaker A
until I get my pain meds and then you can go and like I cuz it's already like 6:30 7 o'clock at that point you know and so I waited it takes sometimes it takes a while for them to get the orders
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in and stuff like that so I had to wait like another hour there but I waited until he got his pain meds and grandma and grandpa but it was really sweet that grandma and grandpa got to have like
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that moment of like coherence with him you know that he got his pain meds and he was pretty out of it for a while. But the amazing thing was like Isaiah was like, "You want to tell your part of the
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story?" Yeah. I mean, so when mom told when Malca told mom that he was ready to go, I was in my car on the way back home already because So you guys know, I went down to Texas to go compete and in my
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decathlon, everything was going good. Really good. Like really good. like top 500 in world history. Good.
Speaker A
Like best meat of his life so far. It was really like really really good. Um and then going into pole vault, I was having really good pull vault sessions with practices and stuff. Like on Tuesday I cleared or I guess I didn't fully clear
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it, but I almost cleared um basically a full foot above my PR at practice, which is insane. And then at the meet I cleared a bungee that was a foot over my PR. And then I checked my opening bar,
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which was a foot below my PR, a foot and a half below my PR, and easily cleared it. Like I have a video of me being like a full foot and a half over it, just like like no nobody's problem. And then
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for some reason I go and pull vault and I didn't clear it at all. Like I kept hitting it on the way up. All the vault looked terrible. And so because of that um because of that I know hiding some of
Speaker A
my great really great meat [clears throat] garbage now like I couldn't imagine no coming back from it once you screw up your meat like that.
Speaker A
So um after that because of everything with Texas and I knew that Malai was in a rough spot. I basically did not look at my phone. I didn't know any updates. I didn't check anything. The only thing I
Speaker A
was on my phone for was to like I had all my Instagram notifications silenced.
Speaker A
I had everything silenced. I would just talk with people who were there at the meet to figure out where I needed to go cuz I was just laser focused. And um because of that, I was like, "All right,
Speaker A
I'm done. I'm going to check in cuz I need to know how Malai is doing." And I looked on the stories and all mom stories are like what I thought. Malachi was in the ICU, not doing good, but
Speaker A
still stable. So, I was like, "Okay, he's good. Maybe I'll finish it. Maybe I'll do the Javelin, the 1500, just see." And I kept like feeling in my spirit like, you know, like you need to you need to call it. So, um I decided to
Speaker A
stop and go home. And um so then I said my goodbyes to everybody. I got all my stuff together and hopped on the road. And actually, I was supposed to have stay in the hotel Sunday night because I knew that after
Speaker A
decathlon I was going to be exhausted. So, I needed to stay and leave Monday cuz it's a 12-hour drive back. I had the day off work, everything on Monday. So, for some reason, I booked my hotel wrong. And because I booked my hotel
Speaker A
wrong, I didn't have a Sunday night stay. It was just till Saturday night. So, I had to leave Sunday and my plan was to go find a motel and I was going to go get a motel and stay the night at the motel. Um, and
Speaker A
then get back later and then probably go see Malikite. But about 3 hours 2 and 1/2 3 hours into the drive is when um mom called me and that's when she had just gotten done talking with Malachi about Malachi wanting to see me and that
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he had [snorts] basically said that he was ready to be done. And um so that was that was really hard on the way home and I was I literally spent 15 minutes in a gas station cuz I got to the gas station,
Speaker A
forgot what I was doing. So I was just walking around. I was going to go get energy drinks to make sure I was going to make it through the night and I literally walked around. The cashier was like, "Dude, are you good?" I was like,
Speaker A
"Oh yeah." So then I got my energy drinks and hopped back on the road. Um, but had I not no hided and had I not left, then I wouldn't have made it back at 5:00 a.m. when I did. And basically
Speaker A
by like 7 7:15 in the morning is when Malachi got back on like the stronger pain meds to the point that he was not really coherent anymore. So I was able to I mean he was still like he was
Speaker A
coherent but he was still kind of out of it. So, like he would open his eyes and talk and be like, "Oh, Isaiah, hey, what's up?" But, uh, every time I'd ask him like, "Hey, is there anything you
Speaker A
need to talk about?" He would just be like, "Yeah, there's something in Yeah. So, you could tell he was trying to say something to me or say something to Isaiah and like he wanted he wanted to say all those meaningful things, but you
Speaker A
could tell that he's his mind just could not process enough to Yeah. It was like he was getting to It's like he was getting ready to say it, but then that mental hurdle of just like actually saying it was too much. So he
Speaker A
like was I'm I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. Oh my gosh. But it's so hard. Never mind. And then [laughter] he just kind of like and then go. So um but you at least got some good talk. I
Speaker A
mean you guys were able to talk and and then [clears throat] Oh yeah. Well, when I got there, I get there and mom's like asleep on the couch. Like she's laying there. She's like half asleep.
Speaker A
And I would like walk in and I'm like, "Hey, I sit down." And Malachi is I guess with the pain meds and stuff when he sleep when he would sleep, he wouldn't like fully sleep. He'd like talk as if he was in a video game or
Speaker A
something. So he would just be like He was talking to all sorts of people.
Speaker A
Yeah. But when I was in there, he's like he was like, "Oh no, that's the wrong one. No, you don't be doing that." And like whatever. Just while he's laying there [snorts] and he just, "Oh my gosh, you're gonna get him." Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Speaker A
And then he just kind of came out and they come like back in. But I like sit down. He goes, "Ow. Ow, that hurts. That that hurts. That really hurts. Oh wow.
Speaker A
Oh wow. And you know the little tubes that go down your nose? It's called an NG tube. He had a tube that went down his nose all the way down to his stomach, right? And so he's going like, "Ow, oh
Speaker A
wow. Oh, wow. That hurts." And he's pulling the tube out of his nose as he's like, "Oh, ow, ow, wa, that hurts. That hurts." And he just yanks it all the way out. And I'm like, "Huh?" [laughter] And mom gets up and she goes, "What?"
Speaker A
Oh. Oh. And so both of us had this little like freak out moment as he's just yanking this tube out of his nose and then um Yeah. But [snorts] thankfully it was on the agenda for the doctors to take it
Speaker A
out that morning. Just not that way. [laughter] Yeah. So yeah, so that was a pretty eventful thing right as I got there and that kind of woke everybody up. So then he was up and that's when he was able to talk to
Speaker A
me for a second. And because he pulled it out, it wasn't all like nasely or anything when he was talking to me and he was kind of normal. [snorts] But yeah, pretty crazy for that to be the first thing I saw when I got it back in
Speaker A
there. [laughter] I was like, "Oh man. Oh man. He's like talking." It's like, "Oh, that really [laughter] hurts." And um is he bleeding like that?
Speaker A
Yeah, I think so. He's like half asleep. Yeah, he's like half asleep. I think he didn't even realize. He was just like dreaming and was like, "There's something in my nose while I'm dreaming.
Speaker A
Let me pull this out." So that's why for a while they actually had his arm strapped to his bed.
Speaker A
Oh, I didn't know that. But yeah, and then he kept saying all the weirdest things cuz when he was off the pain meds, cuz he was trying to stay off the pain meds as long as possible cuz he was waiting for me and dad to get
Speaker A
back so he could talk to us so he wasn't delirious. And um so I saw him trying to hold out a little longer. Unfortunately, dad [snorts] got there around 8 or 8:30.
Speaker A
So Malai tried to hold out but just couldn't hold out that long which is why he got back on them at like 7:00 in the morning. But it was pretty hard to hear how he was cuz he was like he was really
Speaker A
hurting. Um, but even while he was really hurting, he would say the funniest things like, um, he was sitting there and he, you know, he, if you've heard him while he's hurting, he'd be like, "Ow, [snorts] oh wow, oh, oh, goodness. Oh, wow." And
Speaker A
there was one time where he's sitting there, actually, it was a couple times that he did it. He like, "Oh, ow, golly G, that hurts." [laughter] It's like I'm like who in the world says golly G [laughter] when they're in that much pain.
Speaker A
Yeah. And so he would do that and when he was kind of delirious like the nurses and stuff would come up to him and they would be talking to him and he'd just be like Jesus loves you [laughter]
Speaker A
and they'd be like oh yeah he does and like yeah he Jesus loves you. And just kept doing stuff like that to everybody there. And so that was really cool. Um, but he kept doing that and there was a
Speaker A
point I was trying to sleep there because I wanted to just stay and sleep.
Speaker A
So I mean I literally I did a full decathlon and then directly after the decathlon [snorts] or I guess not a full I'd missed two events but then hopped on the road and drived 12 hours straight with losing an
Speaker A
hour. So I was I was exhausted at the point that I had seen Malachi. I was already up for 24 hours and had a competition. So, I'm like barely holding my eyes open. So, I was able to take
Speaker A
like an hour long nap probably. Yeah. But then he was in so much pain.
Speaker A
Then he was in a that was probably the hardest thing for me is that was by far the worst.
Speaker A
That was where cuz the whole time I'm like maybe maybe him fighting like he needs to fight like maybe he needs to fight. But after like I was sitting there and like they had I guess he was having gas
Speaker A
problems and this was right like after they had just started getting him back on the med so I guess they hadn't fully kicked in yet but they're like having to roll him over to do something or move him on his side and he was literally
Speaker A
like screaming like I've I don't think you've ever heard Malachi scream like he was screaming like ouch ouch that hurts that really hurts that that hurts and he started screaming help like help me help me like stop doing that. Help me out for
Speaker A
like an hour. It was probably an hour straight that that was going on. And I was like trying to sleep and of course I can't sleep and nobody could sleep through that. I mean he was screaming.
Speaker A
I think at that point that's when I was like this is this is cruel. Mhm.
Speaker A
Like the idea of trying to convince him to fight more is cruel because he had already fought for so long and to be in that level. Like I a funny thing is too that um I mean I always thought I mean our family we all
Speaker A
have pretty high pain tolerances and I recently got that cavity that pain in my mouth whatever and huge appreciation more for what Malachi is going through because like all of his teeth are probably at the level in which mine is
Speaker A
and I couldn't think of anything other than my tooth unless I was taking pain meds and even still now somewhat it's gotten better but even still now like and that was just just like normal thing for his mouth and that was not the thing
Speaker A
he complained about so to understand what kind of pain he was going through was just like insane.
Speaker A
Yeah. So that was that was Monday and then yeah that was early Monday morning. I ended up leaving at probably 11ish and going back home and taking a nap.
Speaker A
And I ended up sleeping for about an hour until grandma and grandpa woke me up. And [snorts] then I ended up coming back at 6, I think 6:30 p.m. with Elena. And we got back and we were hanging out with
Speaker A
Malachi and helping keep him clean cuz his mouth was really dry and had to have like stuffs vacuumed like you know the dentist when they have the [clears throat] thing.
Speaker A
At that point he was having chest like kind of like fleg in his chest and most of us would just cough it up but he was so weak he could not cough it out and so it was like building up and he was
Speaker A
really struggling to like breathe because it was like really bothering him, you know. And the fleg as well was all like red and bloody and stuff. And because he couldn't his stomach would get whatever, he couldn't have water. So his mouth was
Speaker A
super dry. So imagine you haven't had water for like 3 days in your mouth.
Speaker A
Just super dry. So his lips would crack and his mouth was dry. It was just bleeding all the time.
Speaker A
And then the only like liquid would in his mouth would be either blood or fleg.
Speaker A
So, and he couldn't spit it out or do anything with it, but he kept like trying to grab it out and it was a hole there. There was like this suction thing that he would have to turn on and then
Speaker A
like suck it out. Yeah. So, [snorts] so Elena and I did that for a little bit which let mom go home and is that when you talked to her?
Speaker A
Yeah. Oh, wait. Yeah. Monday night. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. So, when grandma and grandpa came, that wasn't when I talked to them.
Speaker A
That was when I just went home to like take a shower or get food or something like that. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker A
That's when I talked to all of you about it. That's right. So, Elena and I stayed until probably 10:00 [clears throat] 10:30 cuz I was supposed to work in the morning.
Speaker A
Um I was supposed to work in the morning and Elena was supposed to work in the morning. So, but in the morning, mom was like, "You need to come back. You can't." Well, here's the amazing Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. In the morning, mom was like, "You need to be here." She was like, "He's going downhill really fast. You need to be here." And so, um, was like 4:00 or 5 in the morning.
Speaker A
Mhm. And then like an hour later, I call him like, "What's up?" And he's like, "Oh, sorry. I fell back asleep." Yeah. Well, that was the thing. I was so tired. I literally I woke up. I texted her back. I was like, she's like, "You
Speaker A
need to be here." And I was like, "What do I do about work?" And then she was like, "You just need to." And so I texted Bernice and as I had texted her like, "Hey, I need to not come in. Like
Speaker A
is it okay if I skip work?" Then I like laid my phone down. And when I laid my phone down, I just fell straight back asleep. And so I woke up at what, like 5, something like that. And then I'd
Speaker A
seen her be like, "Yeah, don't worry about it. Don't come in to work." And then mom was like, "You need to be here right home." So then I drove straight down there and um yeah, that was kind of
Speaker A
the beginning of [snorts] the night. The night before, like after like when Elena and him were there for a little bit um and I had told you guys, you know, about that, I still was like secondguessing it and I was struggling
Speaker A
so hard like this was like a big decision for me to like cuz I I knew in my spirit I'm like once we pull him from all this support, I think he will die immediately. And everyone kept saying,
Speaker A
"Oh, if it's God's will, you know, if he's supposed to live, he'll still keep living, you know." And I was like thinking, I don't I just know in my spirit if we pull this that he's going to go, you
Speaker A
know and Yeah. And cuz even even on the blood pressure meds, his blood pressure was still dropping. And they were having to like they had him on the highest of two two blood pressure meds and on the very
Speaker A
highest dose. And then so what they ended up doing was switching one of them to a different like alternative one which helped a little bit and they're like this is only a temporary fix and once this stops working we got one more
Speaker A
like a third line of defense and then that's all we got you know but so his body was already trying to still shut itself down you know even though we were doing everything possible to keep it alive and I I was struggling so much and
Speaker A
I'm like God why would you line up all these things you know why would you send this you know and And so I like called people that I thought would like help walk me through that decision, you know,
Speaker A
and I still didn't fully have like a piece about it. [clears throat] And I I called actually Robbie's wife um super late. It was like 11:00 at night and she was like, "We're Robbie and I are going to fast and pray and we are
Speaker A
and we already are and we're believing that God's going to speak really clearly to you, you know, and let you know, you know, kind of like what you should do." And and I was just like sitting there, it was like midnight, just not knowing
Speaker A
what to do. And Isaiah had said that there was a doctor that wanted to come talk to me about methylene blue. And in my mind that kind of like brought my spirit up like methylene blue that's like an alternative thing you know like
Speaker A
and that supports mitochondria heals mitochondria maybe it's something that and then I looked it up I'm like there's so much research that's done on kidney failure and liver failure with methylene blue and liver transplants and I'm like ah so I like get all excited you know so
Speaker A
I like call I tell the doctor I'm like there and I'd like to talk to her so she comes and this doctor was one of the ones that was in this um every morning they do like around rounds and the
Speaker A
entire team. There's usually like 10 to 15 doctors there, all different departments that meet together about Malachi's case and banter back and forth what they think the best care of treatment for him is every day and then they execute that. Well, this doctor I
Speaker A
saw in multiple times and I was like, "Dang, this girl really knows her stuff." Like, she's an extreme expert.
Speaker A
She's wearing her ICU hat right now, but she's actually an expert in a lot of other fields in that hospital. She just happens to be in this position right now. So, she had like a ton of expertise on all sorts of things. And so, I was
Speaker A
like, and she she just told me the methylene blue was just the third line of defense.
Speaker A
So, it wasn't going to like save him, you know, it was just going to help prolong his life like one more day for the blood pressure meds.
Speaker A
So I was like, "Can you just help me process through something here?" And I'm like, "I'm just really struggling to like let him go, you know, and like take him off this stuff and I feel like all of this is presenting
Speaker A
itself for this thing at Stanford." And she said, "Okay." And she's like, "Well," and she walked me through the scientific like all sorts of scientific stuff in regards to getting a liver transplant. and she said like there there's some terminology
Speaker A
I forgot what she called it but it's the process of when you first get the new liver in the body and the liver does something where it like it's almost like flushes itself out into the new body you
Speaker A
know and that process of like being accepted into the new body it's called something I forgot what it's called but she said they said it's kind of the equivalent energy-wise of running a marathon on on your body and she's like there's no way that
Speaker A
Malachi's body could handle that and she goes in my expert and you know in my opinion clinically there's no way he could even undergo like anesthesia right now cuz just anesthesia alone is super hard on your body let alone another transplant
Speaker A
you know which is a massive like energy pull on your body and she's like he just does not have the reserves or the energy like the fuel for that. And she's like, I don't even know how he would make the
Speaker A
transport there. And it would be really sad if he died in the middle of the transport. You know, that would not be peaceful and that would be you you wouldn't want him to die in a trauma situation, you know, that would be a sad
Speaker A
way to go. And so her talking through all that stuff really like I felt like that gave me the peace that I needed, you know, and I was like, "All right." And I asked Kai one more time that day.
Speaker A
Uh or no, it was the next day. So that was that day. I felt like I had that piece. The next morning, um Shash Sean, I really wanted to see him one more time. So I was like kind of
Speaker A
waiting for her to come. Um and I and grandma and grandpa were going to come and see him one last time.
Speaker A
And this lady online who was a hospice nurse was telling me all these like different ideas of things to do like before he passes, you know, like take some of his hair like get his fingerprints, like just different types
Speaker A
of things like that that I wouldn't be able to do later. And I thought that was really cool. She had really great suggestions.
Speaker A
And so, and then I called your dad because I thought, well, I know he saw him yesterday, but probably, you know, I should give him a heads up and maybe he could see him one more time, you know. And so I I messaged
Speaker A
him and I said, you know, I don't think he has much longer. Do you want to come see him one more time? He said, "Yes." So he brought your grandma Sandy and the two of them came, you know, and Isaiah
Speaker A
was there and he had um called Elena's mom and so Elena's mom came and she like brought us food and she ended up staying. She was there. Was she there when you were there, Shauna?
Speaker A
Uh who? Miss Elena's mom stank room. Oh, wait. Yeah, I saw Chrissy. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A
Okay. Yeah. So, she was there the longest time and then um ended up Isaiah called Devon. Remember um Malikica's friend Devon?
Speaker A
And um she ended up coming. Yeah. So, I texted Devon because I was like, "Hey, um basically we're going to be pulling him off all of his stuff." And once that happens, doctors say it could be between hours and possibly
Speaker A
days, but probably just hours. And so she was in the middle of nannying and um she was like, "Oh my gosh." Okay. So she was getting done with her stuff and then she ended up coming over which was very
Speaker A
good. And she was able to be there and um he was actually able to see her but I don't think he was really able to like communicate. He just kind of like saw her and noticed that she was there,
Speaker A
which was really good cuz him and her were really close. So, he was still on pretty high pain meds at that point, you know, like all day long. But he was still able to, you know, kind of say it was so funny. Every
Speaker A
time they would like every time they would give him a bath or do something that he really didn't like, you know, try to move him around, they'd be like, "All right, Kai, you got it. It's time to do this." And he'd go, "Oh."
Speaker A
Mhm. [laughter] That was like his key word for the last like day and a half was I don't know how many times he said a man like one of the very few things he said very clearly.
Speaker A
And so I asked him one more time. I'm like are you and I asked him that morning you know and after your dad had been there after grandma and grandpa had been there everybody like are you sure you're ready
Speaker A
for me to do this? And Isaiah heard it too. He was like I'm so ready.
Speaker A
Yeah. Like I'm very ready. Yeah. Like, okay. And so I signed the hospice papers and they came in um Yeah.
Speaker A
Well, they came in and started disconnecting him from the dialysis machine and then um they had to do something. Oh, he started hurting really bad because of something with the tubes and so they had to remove a bunch of the tubes. And
Speaker A
during that time, um, Elena and I and Miss Christy went out and walked around for a second cuz I was getting like my heels were hurting and everything from standing for so long. And so we walked around and then got some coffee and came
Speaker A
back. And by that time they had pulled him off of the um all of like the medications and stuff cuz they had to pull a bunch of the tubes out of him and and stuff. It's much more peaceful, very
Speaker A
like he didn't have his heart rate monitor and whatever. He just had I think like one or two tubes in him. And um they pulled him off of all that and at that point they basically had a blood
Speaker A
pressure monitor that would sit there and it kind of just tell you where his blood pressure is at and a heart rate monitor and everything just like you see in the movies with like theoop boop. And um well and at that point when when he was
Speaker A
in all that pain and something was wrong with the um like the catheter that was in his groin area, you guys had stepped out, but actually Miss Christy and I were still in the room.
Speaker A
Mhm. And I was um like praying like I like Miss Christie was by the window and she was just kind of hanging out there and she was praying over there and I was in the other side of the room by the
Speaker A
door and I was praying and I was like war praying praying and I was like casting out any you know demonic entities and like asking God to send like protector like warrior angels there you know to like protect him and usher
Speaker A
him into his presence you know safely. And I asked for heavenly host to be sent there. I mean, I was like waring praying, you know, like praying in my pray language and stuff. And then um and that probably went on for maybe like 10
Speaker A
or 15 minutes. And you could tell Miss Christie must have been doing a similar thing on the other side of the room. And then she kind of comes over to me and we kind of like meet in the middle and
Speaker A
we're praying together and and so Malachi is like laying there, you know, drugged out of his mind because they gave him a double dose of the delotted the opioids and then they gave him a delotted drip which was another thing on
Speaker A
top of it and then because he had that pain when they took that out they gave him another push of another super heavy narcotic and so he was like drugged out of his mind. So, he's just like laying there
Speaker A
and Miss Christie and I are praying and as we're praying, I see him like look up like like he looks up at us like clearly looking up at us. I'm like, "Wow, that's interesting." And then so I start
Speaker A
singing. I don't remember what I was singing. And so she starts singing with me and we both start singing. I was really like, it felt so holy. And as we were doing that, he opens his eyes like a bunch of
Speaker A
times and like leaves them open clearly like looking right at us and he kind of like is almost like he's trying to say something with his mouth and he's very clearly watching both of us and then he raises his hand. He hadn't been able to
Speaker A
use his hands in a long time. He raises his hand and clearly says, "Praise God," while we were like singing.
Speaker A
Yeah. And we both heard him clear as day and we both just start balling our eyes out, you know, because it was so obvious his spirit was receiving, you know? I mean, it was it was so beautiful. And then
Speaker A
everybody ended up coming back in the room then and we all just kind of sat around him and we were singing and Devon sat next to him and we sung all these hymns like we sung Mhm.
Speaker A
How great thou art. We sung Holy, holy, holy, it is well. Yeah. Yeah. We sung all kinds of beautiful songs and it was really nice cuz you know Devon's an amazing singer. Elena is an amazing singer. Miss Dank is a pretty
Speaker A
good singer too and so it was just beautiful. And then so then Deon's like, "How about this? Why don't we all like circle around his bed and let's um let's like let's like pray and like thank God for him. Do you guys want to do that?"
Speaker A
And I'm like, "Yeah." Mhm. So we all like circle around him and I'm like kind of watching the I go over to the heart rate monitor, you know, and I'm seeing it's it was a weird monitor.
Speaker A
So, it wasn't like a typical, it was like extremely accurate cuz actually in his vein and it starts off when they unhook him like 50 something and it's just slowly dropping like it's 50 then it's like 48 and it's like 38 that's
Speaker A
like 35 31 like it's just slowly dropping as time goes on. And basically they said what would happen is it would drop all the way to till where it was no longer and then his heart would stop.
Speaker A
And so I could see that that was happening, you know, and so I knew we didn't have a whole lot longer. And he was just like laying there, you know, and very peacefully. And so I start praying and just praising God and
Speaker A
thanking God for all the little things like all the little like how God made him love lizards and be so coordinated. he could run through the field at 2 years old in flip-flops and catch a mouse, you know, and just all
Speaker A
these like little things that were super unique to him. And then we were just praying and then Devon ended up praying at the end and she was like laughing and crying praying, you know, it was so sweet, very Devonike.
Speaker A
And then as she's doing that, he has like a tear that that rolls down his face.
Speaker A
And then he she's like, "Well, why don't we sing his favorite hymns again and actually recorded it and we sung Holy, holy, holy." And it was really beautiful. And then a mighty fortress.
Speaker A
And then I had my hand. So I was like at his bedside here. I had my hand on his heart, you know, and then I was holding his other hand, you know, he's just like this. And I was holding his hand with my
Speaker A
my his right hand with my hand. And Devon was holding his other hand. Yeah. And Devon was holding his other hand. And A Mighty Fortress was a little awkward because none of us knew the lyrics or none of the words.
Speaker A
I was like the only one who could actually sing the full tune. Trying to read it from our phones kind of awkwardly, you know, and I could feel like I could feel his heart kind of like fading, you know, and I'm like kind of
Speaker A
I'd like look up at Isaiah and he'd be like Yeah. cuz I was track of the monitor motioning to me like what it's at, you know, so it's really low and about halfway through Holy Holy, I was like,
Speaker A
he's gone. His heart stop beating and I look over at him and then they all look at the monitor and they're like and that was it.
Speaker A
And it was super peaceful. Mhm. And Miss Danker said that when she looked over at it that it like flatlined, but then it went And then it flatlined again.
Speaker A
You see like fluttered for a second. But I will never forget that sound. Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. Right in the middle of one of his favorite songs, favorite hymns. It was very peaceful and very relaxed and um so beautiful.
Speaker A
It was very very sweet. So, but yeah, his it just kept steadily dropping and then just like it just faded away.
Speaker A
Yeah. And Yeah. And then also your work. Yeah. I mean, my boss called me about halfway through the day and was like, "Don't come in to work for the rest of the week." She was like, "Take your time. All you need
Speaker A
and you get paid time off week." Yeah. For the whole week. Yeah. That was like incredible.
Speaker A
So very very sweet. So after he passed, I mean, I was like weeping like I never wept before on him.
Speaker A
Like I was like hugging him, just crying a lot. And I think we were all crying. Devon was weeping.
Speaker A
Mhm. I mean, we were like just aving. Grandpa had literally like Yeah. Literally like 5 seconds after Maai passed and mom was like, "Oh my gosh, he passed." Like 5 seconds after that, Grandpa called to check up on him.
Speaker A
Which was crazy. That's what Lenny called all of or told all of us like as ugly as that happened.
Speaker A
Yeah. So, and then after that, mom was like weeping and crying and she was like, "You need to tell everyone." So, then I stepped out of the room and started making calls.
Speaker A
Yeah. And I called a bunch of people. Unfortunately, Kyle was the second person I called cuz he had texted me.
Speaker A
And that poor guy is so emotional as he instantly started just like sobbing, crying right off the rip. I was like, "I love you, dude. I got other people to call. I got you got I got [laughter] to
Speaker A
go." So I had to hang up on him and then I ended up talking to everybody and talked with Seth and Seth started crying, too. And yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. I got to talk about it like two hours after. Yeah. I mean, he's very loved, but it just felt like there was a lot of really cool supernatural things that happened, including like he had the same night
Speaker A
nurse who was so precious and took such good care of him. Normally that like the nurses are switching and every 2 or 3 days you got different nurses. He had the same night nurse for like six days in a row.
Speaker A
That never happens. That poor girl was so tired. [snorts] She was ready to be done.
Speaker A
But she was so gracious. So sweet. Yeah. Yeah. But a lot of really precious like mercies for sure.
Speaker A
So that's the story. That's it. Right.
Topics:liver failurepediatric liver diseasebowel obstructionblood transfusionICU careintubationfamily storyend of lifemedical emergencypatient experience
