Landon Wyatt Carmichael

"Landon Wyatt Carmichael was born on Father’s Day 6/20/21 in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. When people say, “it’s love at first sight when you meet your baby.” It’s true. So fresh and new to this world and I knew instantly this is a love like no other.

Landon met every milestone and was such a quick learner. He knew 16 words by 16 months!

He loved to smile at random people and knew how to work a room. He brought so much joy and sunshine to this world in such a short time.

Landon had so much love for his mama, dada, and dog-dog. He would always wait by the baby gate around 4-5pm eagerly waiting for dada to come home.

Landon suddenly fell ill on 10/26/22.

He woke up that morning feeling a tad bit warm. I knew some teeth were coming in so I chalked it up as just a small teething fever and I game him Tylenol. After that I took him out to go get a couple things we needed around the house. I noticed on the ride back home he was asleep already in his car seat. I thought it was odd because he’s only been up for about 2hrs by then. We get home, I take him inside and I had him take the rest of his nap next to me on the couch. When he woke up it was lunch time so I made him a peanut butter banana sandwich. He ate the whole thing which was a good sign to me. Though he may not feel good right now, at least he’s still eating and getting some nutrients. Right after eating he wanted me to pick him up and snuggle him. He fell asleep again but on my chest this time. As I was holding him he woke up about 45 mins later shaking. I thought he was just having a nightmare. But really it was me who was experiencing a nightmare. Landon was having a seizure.

I called 911 immediately. I had my husband on the other line telling him to come home immediately. By the time the ambulance came, which was about 5 minutes, he was post seizure. Let me tell you, those 5 minutes felt like forever. They took him to the hospital and I was there with him the whole ride there. In the ambulance his temperature was 100. But in the hospital his temperature was 103. So they diagnosed him with an episode of a febrile seizure. After seizures you tend to be really lethargic and sleepy so he slept for about another hour. His dad and grandma arrived to the hospital we were in and he was awake but not quite there. I asked Landon for a kiss and he gave me one. Little did I know that would be the last kiss I would receive from my sweet boy. After 10 minutes from the last kiss I was holding him and I knew another seizure was coming. I told my husband to quickly go get the nurse. This seizure was longer than the first. The hospital then said they need to airlift him to Nemours in Orlando for further treatment, as they didn’t have the resources to give Landon the care he needed. So that night he made it to the other hospital in stable condition.

Everything was fine on Thursday 10/27. On 10/28 Landon had a 7 hour long seizure while sedated. The seizure medication wasn’t working on him. They finally got the seizures under control. They brought him in for a MRI screening to make sure there was no damage to his brain and everything was fine. He was also diagnosed that day with a virus called Adenovirus. We found that through an advanced screening panel they did the night he was flown in there.

They kept him sedated on Saturday 10/29.

Sunday, 10/30 comes and it’s around early lunch time. The head doctor from the infectious disease department

came in and told us that the worst that will happen from this is possible childhood asthma. I said, “if out of all this we only have to deal with asthma we can handle that!” He also told us that they were going to start to wake him up today and that we should expect to take him home in 3-4 days. We were ecstatic! It felt like we could finally see the light at the end of this tunnel.

4 hours go by and the floors doctor came in and checked his pupils and they were no longer dilating.. she told me the worst case scenario but I didn’t want to think of it like that. I just prayed in that moment. They rushed Landon in for a MRI and two hours later the neurologist and doctor came back into the room and closed the door behind them. I knew instantly it wasn’t good news but I didn’t want to believe it. I’ll never forget the doctor looked me in the eyes and told me the news I didn’t want to hear. I misheard her and my husband repeated the words, “no, it’s irreversible damage.” I screamed, I begged, I questioned everything. Why us? Why our sweet precious Landon? What happened?

Landon’s brain swelled to the point of no return.

That night I slept next to my baby boy for the last time. Every time I did end up falling asleep, I woke up to a nightmare over and over again. The next day, 10/31/22 all of our family was there. His dad and I had to make the decision on what we were going to do from here. The options were to perform a brain death test or to stop all treatment. To us both those options seemed extreme on both ends. Either to prolong an already devastating situation or let go and not see what happened to him when he was okay on Friday but then declared gone 2 days later. We ended up asking the doctor and neurologist to show us his brain scans on Friday when things were working properly and to Sunday when it all went bad.

After looking at the scans we knew there was really no turning back. I’ll always remember that image for the rest of my life. That night we released Landon from his physical earthly burdens. I did the last thing I could do as a mother for him on Earth and that was to perform his final bath.

We miss him terribly everyday. Not a moment goes by where I don’t think of him.

Two month after Landon passed I found out I was pregnant. We are currently expecting our little girl in early September. I know Landon had something to do with this new blessing, and I know he will be the best guardian angel brother out there.

We love you so much Landon. I can’t wait for the day you can show us what Heaven is like.

Love, Mama and Dada"

Written by loving mother, Ashley Schueler