Boy on dialysis; Fund established to help family

By Nina Mehlhaf, KTVZ.COM

A Redmond family is praying for their 19-month-old son's recovery after he was diagnosed with E. coli and flown to a children's hospital in Portland.

Little Jackson Reece of Redmond now has partial kidney failure, and is on dialysis at Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital.

Normally, he's healthy and active, but the diagnosis of E. coli, a bacterial infection, has put him in intensive care.

"(Last) Sunday, he started getting sick and got diarrhea, and we figured he got a bug because most of us had gotten sick as well. Then a couple days later, he was still sick," the boy's father, Steven Pratt, told NewsChannel 21 on Monday by phone from the hospital.

The family says they all had eaten take-out food in Redmond from a popular chain restaurant a week ago. But when everyone else was starting to feel better after their initial stomach problems, Jackson got worse, with a fever, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Reece's parents took him to the doctor. Then when things got worse, he was taken to St. Charles Medical Center-Redmond, and transferred to St. Charles Medical Center-Bend, had a blood transfusion and the illness was labeled E. coli.

"The toxins were breaking up his red bloods cells and blocking his kidneys," Pratt said.

Virtual kidney failure forced doctors to fly him to Portland, where he is now on dialysis most of the day.

The Deschutes County Health Department says it gets three to five confirmed cases of E. coli a year.

Because the bacteria is all around us, in cattle, fecal material and bad meat, it only launches an investigation if more than one home is reporting it from the same source.

"If we get a common denominator from two separate households, we would contact the business and see if they've had any phone calls," said Shannon Dames, communicable disease coordinator with the health department.

"We've even gotten contacts via credit card receipts so we can contact their customers at that point," she said.

But so far, this time, only Jackson's family has reported being sick, so there is no investigation yet.

The health department also reports that only 20 percent of confirmed E. coli cases end with a determination of where it came from.

But with medical bills already skyrocketing, and dad Steven in Portland and not home working, the family is looking for help.

Tumalo relative Ashley Rager said, "It's rough, it's very rough - especially as little as he is. One and a half years old, he's a very happy, loving little man - and right now, he's not."

If you'd like to help, you can donate to the "Jackson Paul Reece Fund" at any U.S. Bank branch.

Doctors are hoping to flush the bacteria out of his system, but he should be getting dialysis for several more days, then stay in the hospital for up to a month.

The name of the restaurant will not be released until the Deschutes County Health Department determines that indeed, the E. coli can be directly traced back to it, and more than one household reports the illness.