Team members at Regional Medical Center in Manchester recently celebrated with 8 year-old Max Schlee of Farmersburg, who was selected as one of the 2023 Kid Captains by University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
Max and his twin brother, Cooper, were hospitalized at RMC at just 6 months old. This was just the start of a very long healthcare journey for the Schlee family. Max was diagnosed with MCADD (medium-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency). If the disease is untreated, it can lead to serious consequences such as brain damage, coma and sudden death. Due to Max’s health challenges, he became well acquainted with staff at RMC throughout the years.
“I was always impressed by how the RMC team would go above and beyond to make sure he [Max] was taken care of. Max has been hospitalized over 40 times and probably 30 of them were at RMC,” shared Jamie Schlee, Max’s mother. “The kitchen staff would drive down to Kwik Star and buy him milk (the only milk that didn’t upset his stomach). The pharmacy staff would order his medicine (not a common medication) and keep it in stock so anytime he came in, we were able to get it to him right away. It was those types of things that really made this place special.”
It’s been a couple years since Max has been admitted at RMC. On September 25th, staff who have cared for Max were invited to celebrate with him and his family for his Kid Captain recognition, which took place during the Iowa-Purdue game last Saturday.
photo courtesy of RMC
