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HOME ! ARCHIVES ! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY GRANDSON? MIAMI STUDENT SEARCHES FOR AN ANSWER
ARCHIVES
What happened to my grandson?
Miami student searches for an
answer
BY ARCHIVES NOVEMBER 15, 2013
By Reis Thebault, Campus Editor
Roxanne Ellis has a question. She has a question and nobody seems to have an answer: What
happened to her grandson?
Ellis, 41, is a Miami University nursing major and has been taking classes at the Middletown
campus since 2010. She has taken this semester off to search for the answer to her question.
Roy Roro Ellis III, Ellis grandchild, was three years old when, one night, his body underwent
what doctors could only classify as a catastrophic event.
On May 1, Roro became violently ill: he vomited, his blood sugar dropped and he began running
a fever. This lasted through the night, until his other set of grandparents, with whom he was
staying at the time, called 9-1-1.
That night, Ellis, with whom Roro has lived since birth, knew something was wrong.
When I was getting ready to go to bed, I thought I heard him crying, Ellis said. I stopped
myself and I was like Hes not here. I went to bed and I immediately started crying like I knew
there was something wrong with him. I knew.
She was right. Roro was taken to Cincinnati Childrens Hospitals Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and
had a seizure that lasted 48 minutes. Doctors put him in a medically-induced coma for a week to
let his brain rest.
MIAMI MIDDLETOWN NURSING STUDENT ROXANNE ELLIS HOLDS HER GRANDSON,
ROY, AFTER AN UNEXPECTED SEIZURE LEFT HIM WITH BRAIN DAMAGE.
(CONTRIBUTED BY ROXANNE ELLIS)
Then the tests began.
Doctors did an MRI and found the low blood sugar and seizures had taken their toll. He was
diagnosed with encephalopathy, a broad term that means disorder of the brain. But still doctors
could not deduce how or why this happened, what caused it or where it would lead.
We were told that it caused brain damage to his entire brain, not just one area, Ellis said. They
didnt know what he would be like when he woke up, or if he would wake up.
He did wake up and, in fact, made a lot of improvement.
Within a weeks time, he was able to sit up by himself, Ellis said. He could actually take steps
with therapy, he stood up out of his chair by himself.
However, one night something happened. No one knows what, but his health declined again.
This time it was worse.
He cant sit up by himself, he cant do anything, Ellis said. He doesnt talk, he doesnt smile.
That is one of the hardest parts, Ellis said. A smile never used to be far away.
This was the happiest little boy there ever was, Ellis said. He smiled every day.
And so the tests continued.
Doctors could not gure out what was wrong. They could not answer Ellis question. They put
Roro through 428 tests and just one came back positive: the rhinovirus, or, in other words, the
common cold.
Roro now has to spend most of his time in his room, with its walls covered in his favorite Disney
movie characters and a television that is always on cartoons. The clutter of toys and games give
it the feel of a typical four-year-olds room. Except for the beeping machine beside his bed.
Because he still cannot eat solid foods, it feeds Roro Peptamen Jr. through a tube that is
connected directly to his stomach.
Ellis is, as she said, Roros, 24-hour caregiver.
I do everything for him, Ellis said. Daily life has changed. I dont have a life; hes my life.
But hes worth it.
This has changed everyones lives, Ellis said. Roro was born when Roy Ellis, Roros father, was
16. Roy lets his mother, Ellis, do most of the talking, but it is apparent that he is frustrated as
well.
It just gets to me, Roy said.
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It only makes circumstances more difcult when Medicaid, a health program that, among other
things, gives nancial aid to those with disabilities, is reluctant to cover some of the special
equipment Roro needs.
They are not wanting to pay for his wheelchair or his car seat because the diagnosis isnt a good
enough diagnosis, Ellis said. It doesnt make sense.
The tests will continue.
Roro has an appointment with an eye specialist and follow-up appointments with neurologists
and physical therapists.
In the meantime, Ellis has hardly had time to think about her future at Miami and what will come
after, but when she does, she sees things differently. Ellis got her GED when she was 30 and
began working at a nursing home before enrolling at Miami in 2010. She wanted to change
career paths, but was not really sure which way to head. She now has a better idea.
I never thought I would want to work with kids, Ellis said. But when I do graduate, I probably
will work with kids. It is heartbreaking but it also lls your heart with joy when you see them
make progress.
Conned to that bed, the one with the Cars sheets, Roro can barely move his arms and makes
minimal progress, but through his Facebook group Hope for Roro, he reaches hundreds. Ellis
posts pictures and comments to the page, updating followers on Roros progress and activity.
Despite all the apparent negativity, 78 days in the hospital and hundreds of tests, Ellis remains
hopeful, condent, that doctors will answer her question.
Im not living in denial, Ellis said. Im living on hope and faith that he will recover. Its all I
have.
There will be a benet for Roro and his family, from open to close Nov. 23 at Elis Sports Bar in
Ross. There will be games, rafes and a performance by country singer Ryan Broshear. All
proceeds go to the purchase of Roros equipment and the funding of a second opinion.
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