Eight Year Old Who Survived Near Fatal Bout with Sepsis and His Family to Donate $25,000 to Winthrop-University Hospital to Educate Long Island Pediatricians and Parents About Early Warning Signs of the Illness

****Youngster to play in foursome at the Glen Cove Golf Club with his Doctor and hit ceremonial first tee in golf outing to fund education program****

Eight year old Sean Hatzfeld, will hit the ceremonial first tee in the first annual Tee Up to Drive Out Sepsis golf outing at 12:30PM and then play in a foursome with his Doctor, on  Monday, September 30th at the Glen Cove Golf Club.

Through the golf outing Sean and his family have raised $25,000 which will be donated to Winthrop-University Hospital to enable experts in sepsis to educate Long Island pediatricians and parents as to the often missed early warning signs of the often fatal illness.

Last February, Sean’s life was saved by doctors at Winthrop after he was brought to the emergency room, his body ravaged by the sepsis infection. Sean had been ill for almost five days; the initial diagnosis offered by the first doctors that he saw was that he only had the flu.

He was sent home and his mother was told to treat him with Motrin and fluids. However, a few days later his health not only failed to improve but he contracted Orbital Cellulitis, an infection in the cells surrounding his eye. His parents took him to a hospital in his area, but because there was no pediatric ophthalmologist on duty he was rushed by ambulance to Winthrop, where the medical team immediately determined that Sean was suffering from sepsis and was on the brink of multi-organ failure.  After days of sinus surgery, a blood plasma transfusion, dialysis and physical therapy Sean’s life was saved.

Members of the Winthrop Pediatric team credited with saving Sean’s life including: Dr. Maria Lyn Quintos-Alagheband, Associate Director of Pediatric Critical Care and Physician Quality Officer at The Children’s Medical Center at Winthrop  and Dr. Bradley Block will join Sean for a round of golf and will be available to discuss that early detection can mean the difference between life and death.

Sean’s mother, Patricia says the family’s goal is to make parents aware that sepsis exists, so they can simply ask if their child is suffering from sepsis, which will force the doctor to consider that the patient is not just suffering from the flu but could actually be fighting for his life.