Hope for Henny: 8-year-old heads to Atlanta for treatment
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Hendrix “Henny” Gilstrap has been at the Children’s Hospital since December when an instance dealing with toxic megacolon almost killed him.
He was rushed to the hospital and eventually saved. He ended up losing a leg through all of the treatment so far.
“This happened out of nowhere. He was fine. Essentially, he died on Dec. 16,” said Mandi Jo Gilstrap, Hendrix’s mom.
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On Thursday morning, nurses cheered as Hendrix was taken to an ambulance as he headed to his next treatment stop — the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where they have high hopes after the past five months.
“Now we just hope and pray. We just go home from CHOA, no ambulances, no paperwork and we just go home,” said Mandi.
Mandi says doctors hope for Henny to be able to walk out with a prosthetic and go home. It all comes after Hendrix was given a 5% chance to live in the middle of December.
“He’s been through a lot,” she said.
Four months later, he’s able to talk with us.
“I really can’t believe we’re here,” said Mandi.
He was able to crack jokes, but above all, he wanted to say thank you to those who checked in and prayed for his well-being.
“Thanks a lot for watching me. I’ve been here since December and now look at me,” said Hendrix.
He’s back to his old self his mom says, and he isn’t defeated with what’s happened, like losing a leg.
Mandi still re telling her son the news.
“He cried really hard. Like that day, and then the next day, he was just like ‘Okay, what do we do? Like what do we do about this?’” she said.
His determination to get back on his feet didn’t stop, even when the cards were stacked against him.
“It’s so unfair it happened to him,” said Mandi. “He’s never said that. He’s never said, ‘Why me?’ He gets upset and cries sometimes and then he just picks himself up and says, ‘Okay, this is what happened and I want to walk so what can we do?’”
He’s been through 27 surgeries so far, with high highs and low lows. Mandi says she didn’t believe in miracles until now.
“We all just witnessed a really huge real-life miracle,” said Mandi.
She now has hope that he’ll be able to live as normal of a life as possible.
“Coming home and having the chance to grow up now. And I get to see that there was a time where I didn’t think I would be able to see that,” she said.
A blood drive for Hendrix will be hosted on April 30 at Shepard Blood Center.
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