At The Love for Lochlin Foundation Inc our Mission is to prevent, educate, and drive awareness to the deadly impacts of the Flu and Sepsis in Frederick County Maryland. It is our promise that we will work tirelessly to see that no more lives are lost to the Flu or SEPSIS due to the lack of access to resources needed in our community. On January 20th of 2020, our 5-year-old son Lochlin passed away
suddenly from complications of Flu related Sepsis. He developed mild flu like symptoms the evening of Friday January 17th after returning home from school. On Saturday and into Sunday he was feeling better and was even up running around with his brothers. However, by Sunday evening he started to feel worse and seemed to have lost his appetite. Lochlin was complaining of severe muscle pains in his legs making it difficult to walk, had a mild fever, and was low on energy. Sunday night we took him into an Urgent care facility where he was diagnosed with Influenza Type A. We were instructed to take him home, give him fluids and if he was not better in the morning to take him into the emergency room. The next morning, he was not feeling any better and his muscle pains had increased to the point where he refused to walk so, we took him to the emergency room. Unfortunately, at that point it was too late. He started to go into Septic shock and the medical staff was unable to save him. He passed away shortly after. This was a devastating blow to our Family. However, it was also an eye-opening experience. We knew that we had to do something, get the word out, and make sure that this type of tragedy did not happen again in our community. Since Lochlin’s passing we have set out on a mission to educate and protect as many people as possible from the deadly impacts that infectious diseases can have on our communities. We started this Non-profit organization, The Love for Lochlin Foundation Inc, which is dedicated to fulfilling that mission. We have taken a two-pronged approach at fighting the spread of infectious diseases.
- One is through vaccination clinics that we conduct in the low-income and underserved areas of our community where people do not have the means or awareness to protect themselves from infectious diseases, along with getting flu vaccines into all schools making it easier for children to get vaccinated.
- The second is through legislation to help get protocols and testing for SEPSIS put into place for all medical practices. "Lochlin's Law" has been passed in the state of Maryland.
1 out of 3 deaths in hospitals are caused by sepsis, however 87% of SEPSIS cases start in the community. By implementing protocols and improving testing and awareness among the public and all medical facilities we aim to reduce that number dramatically.
