Medical errors and hospital infections exact a huge toll on the lives of millions of Americans and their families every year. The Cover America Tour team spent the Fourth of July at an emotional gathering of folks living with the results of those avoidable tragedies at the first South Carolina Patient Safety Day held in Aiken last week.

Among that crowd was the Toolen family.

The Toolens are living the devastation that is MRSA, short for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It is a particularly nasty infection that has changed the lives of thousands and the Toolens are living proof. During a routine surgery to help get ready for the high-school football season, son Jimmy contracted MRSA, a form of staph infection that is resistant to the typical course of antibiotic treatment. He would not play football that fall.

Like the caring family they are, the Toolens began treatment for their son, hoping and praying for the best. Jimmy’s father – also named Jimmy – is a diabetic and had his own set of medical problems, but he pitched in just the same. While changing his son’s bandages, he became infected with the deadly MRSA infection through contact with an open wound.

The family’s problems have more than doubled since then. Now disabled with MRSA, Big Jimmy can no longer work and support his family. The medical bills are piling up and the Toolans have yet to qualify for government financial assistance.

When I asked Big Jimmy about his former job he told me he’s one of those people that can “drive anything with wheels and some things without ‘em.” As a forklift operator he loved his work and misses it dearly, but in his current condition it’s no longer an option.

And through all of this devastation Big Jimmy could still smile. How can a man who has been through more tragedy in a few years than most go through in a lifetime still laugh and joke? He seemed confused by our admiration. For him, his son is the focus. Getting Little Jimmy healthy is what he wants. His problems come second.

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1 Posted by David at 07/11/08 07:31 AM

total bummer

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