Briggsy Be Better!

Hello!

We are trying to fundraise for the Briggs family. Most of the Volleyball community would know, larger than life, Mark Briggs (Briggsy) and his lovely wife, Sammy from Rockhampton.

Recently, Briggsy ended up in hospital in very serious condition. He had received THE vaccination and not long after his health severely declined. He was in ICU, Rockhampton Hospital with many serious symptoms ie inflamed heart, fluid on his lungs, pneumonia. He was placed in an induced coma, as the doctors thought he wouldn't make it through the night. He had a machine breathing for him. He wasn't responding to antibiotics. A tube was inserted to suck the fluid out of his lungs. The fluid was around his heart as well. There were negative changes to his liver function. His resting heart rate was up to 150/minute. Fluctuating blood pressure causing concern to his organs shutting down. High temperatures.

As his body was shutting down, the Hospital transferred him to the Prince Charles Hospital, Chermside, around 2nd July. Sammy & the kids drove down & have been in booked accommodation. As you can imagine, this is not cheap!

He was starting to go into renal failure. Since he has had more CT scans, his marrow tested for lymphoma. As at Friday 9th July, he has not improved. Thursday night, his oxygen levels have decreased, temperature rose along with his white blood cells. He was sedated, as every time they brought him out of sedation, his blood pressure rose!

The road to recovery is going to be long and probably with complications arising during the journey.

Obviously Briggsy isn't working at present and nor is Sammy. They will run out of money. The strain of the medical side of things is stressful enough, let alone them worrying about money.

If everyone who knows him generously gives $5 - $10 (or more if you are able) and those that don't know him $1 - $5 (because giving makes you feel good) we will reach our target before we know it.. maybe even exceed it!

Also.. PLEASE share this with all of your friends. The more reach we get, the quicker & more money can be raised. Thank you in advance for your kindness, empathy and generosity.

Update as at Tuesday 13 July from Sammy:

Briggs is in ICU in Brisbane and they don’t know what is wrong still. He has increasing fluid on both lungs, partial collapse and some consolidation. He is being supported by an non-invasive ventilation mask as he cannot breathe on his own. The fluid on his heart seems to be decreasing. The doctors stopped antibiotics today because he’s been on them too long. They also stopped the steroids because there is a fungus growing in his lungs. He has a blood clot in his leg so he’s on blood thinner. They may drain some of the fluid off his lungs but need to wait for the blood thinner to wear off. He is in a diuretic to try to reduce the fluid and insulin because all of the meds have increased his blood sugars. He’s not sleeping very much even though he is exhausted from trying to breathe. Muscle wastage has taken hold and he can barely move his arms and legs. He is being fed with a tube as he struggles to eat and drink.

Update as at Sun 25 July 2021.

Mark has been moved back to Rockhampton Hospital, ICU. Prince Charles wanted to place him in a normal ward, despite his reliance on high flow oxygen and unstable symptoms.

He had a relapse on Tuesday night where his BP dropped and they had to work very hard to stabilise him. He was sedated and ventilated again. Since, his stats have held and he’s been able to come off sedation and ventilation. They have drawn some of the fluid from outside his lungs and are having it tested. They are planning to do a labelled white cell scan on Monday to see if they can find a source of infection.

Update 2nd August:

He’s had a busy day. Bloods, chest X-ray, CT scan and ultrasound on his left arm. Visit from psych, dietician, docs, surgical consult and Physio. No result from chest x-ray yet, has a clot in the arm too but not sure if it’s DVT- waiting for report. Surgeon happy to hold off on doing a gastroscope to see if there is a bleed in the stomach because bloods aren’t indicating even though stools are black and there’s fluid in his abdomen(ct). If his third lot of EBV tests come back negative, they will look at sending him to Brisbane for a PET scan. Currently consulting with Infectious disease doc here, immunologist and respiratory specialist at Prince Charles and haematologist at Royal Brisbane. Have to wait for a couple of tests to come back to see what will happen next.

Update 3rd August 2021

Boofhead got his nasal tube tangled and partially pulled it out. They had to reset it and check it with an X-ray overnight. It wasn’t secured properly and had started coming out again when I arrived this morning so they have just reset it and sent him for another X-ray. If his EBV test comes back negative tomorrow, they want to send him to Brisbane for a PET scan and immunologist consult. Obviously going to Brissy right now is not ideal because of the risk of Covid and I won’t be allowed in with him. We are asking to go to Townsville instead. They are not keen but we will find out tomorrow. He’s still having ongoing fevers etc and they have no idea why. There’s 250ml of fluid outside his left lung again and collapse at the bases of his lungs. The clot in his arm is superficial and not DVT at this stage. Abdomen fluid and heart fluid seem to be reducing. He is now off all antibiotics. He still has a rash all over. His eating has gone backwards as he keeps choking. A couple of things to be investigated.