A New House In Central Will Bring Miracles

OLOL to Raffle $364,000 Home In Village Lakes For Area Kids

by Melissa Lewis Anderson

Special to the Central City News

CENTRAL — It’s hard to imagine anything could rattle a veteran pediatric emergency room nurse with 19 years of experience.

But when nurse Kim Arceneaux’s four-week-old grandson, Paxton Rivet, stopped breathing one day at her office, that’s just how she felt — shaken, rattled, frozen, like her knees were about to buckle. As she spoke with 911 operators, she reached for a bulb syringe, began to suction Paxton’s airway, and he started to breathe again.

But, after an ambulance ride to Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, Paxton stopped breathing again in the pediatric emergency room. He had to be placed on a ventilator. As Kim explains it, “when they are that young, if you don’t protect their airway they will tire out — they just can’t keep going.”

Paxton remained on the ventilator for the next 18 days in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at the hospital, where specialists continued to study his case. During those days, Paxton exhibited a myriad of problems, ranging from severe gastrointestinal reflux to pneumonia to the beginning of liver failure. He was seen by countless pediatricians on staff.

For that, Kim is thankful, saying, “Having a hospital nearby that specializes in children is of number one importance to any mother, grandmother, father, grandfather — anyone who has children. Because when you need those specialists, you need them now.”

Paxton was eventually weaned off the breathing machine but remained hospitalized for 28 days. Doctors finally sent him home with oxygen and a breathing monitor.

Kim says doctors told them the underlying causes for all Paxton’s difficulties were “like a perfect storm. He had reflux which caused the choking episode that led to his not breathing. His older sister was at home with croup so (exposure to) that could have been the icing on the cake. He was also born four weeks early.”

Today Paxton is a healthy, happy one-year-old who is doted on by his family and especially his grandmother, who works shifts in the pediatric emergency room at OLOL Children’s Hospital.

Kim has taken her gratitude one step further, literally building on her need to give back to the children’s hospital that saved her grandson’s life. She and her husband Ronnie Arceneaux operate KM-Ron Builders and are lead builders on the 2011 OLOL Children’s Hospital Mansion. That mansion is being raffled now to benefit lifesaving care at OLOL Children’s Hospital. They are joined by four other building companies — RamCo Residential Builders, Rabalais Homes, Gafford Builders, and JBS Companies. Dan and Cheree Brown, developers of Village Lakes Subdivision in Central, donated the lot. The mansion, situated on the lake, is a beautiful 2,600-square-foot home valued at $364,000 with four bedrooms and three baths.

Kim says it’s about more than just winning a house, that “it’s about giving to the children’s hospital so that we are able to have the best equipment, the best specialists, the cream of the crop for when that child needs it.”

This is the 10th year of the mansion project sponsored by the Capital Region Builders Association. Chances to win this home are $100 each and on sale now at ololchildrens.org. You may also call toll-free 877-757-2663. The name of this year’s winner will be announced on Dec. 6 on WAFB Channel 9.

Profit on Mansion Will Be Used to Fund OLOL Kids Hospital

CENTRAL — Central area builders are completing construction of the 2011 Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital Mansion at Village Lakes subdivision here in Central.  The 2,600-sq.ft., $364,000 mansion will be raffled off on Dec. 6 on WAFB-TV.  Tickets are $100 and can be purchased at ololchildrens.org or by calling 877-757-2663.