Oklahoma Baby Becomes Critically Ill During Family Vacation In Florida

A husband and wife who are civilian employees at Tinker Air Force Base have seen their lives and sanity thrown into peril, since a family vacation began in Clearwater Beach, Florida on July 20.  

Joseph and Mikah Jones’ 1-year-old daughter Cadence became critically ill on July 22.

“She wouldn’t walk anymore, she just wanted to crawl. Well then, she didn’t even want to crawl anymore. And so, we’re trying to figure out if she was just tired, and she finally became lifeless,” said Mikah.

Joseph said doctors at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa have diagnosed his daughter with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. It’s a rare autoimmune disorder that’s caused by an infection or virus. 

Joseph, his wife, and his wife’s mother are working in 12-hour shifts, to make sure someone from the family is always next to her hospital bed in Tampa. 

A GoFundMe page has raised nearly $5,000 in the past two weeks. 

The Jones’ said Tinker Air Force Base has been very supportive, but their lives are in limbo, because doctors in Tampa, at least right now, can’t predict when their daughter is going to get well enough to be transferred to a hospital in Oklahoma.

“It’s really hard to be here and not home,” said Mikah.

If you’d like to help this family by donating to their GoFundMe page, click here.