‘We’re going to get out of this, baby’: Parents plea to keep 2-year-old brain dead son on life support

Parents in Roseville, Calif., are holding out hope that their two-year-old son will wake up – even though he was declared brain dead by doctors.

They say he’s very much alive and are hoping to find a hospital that will take him in to keep him on life support.

Israel Stinson suffered traumatic brain injuries following an asthma attack that left him without oxygen for 40 minutes.

“This time, I want you to wake up,” mother Jonee Fonseca told her son while she was nudging him at a hospital in Sacramento.”We’re going to get out of this, baby.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "This time, I want you to wake up," mother Jonee Fonseca told her son while she was nudging him at a hospital in Sacramento."We're going to get out of this, baby."

Despite doctors issuing a brain death certificate, the family was granted a court order that gives them until Monday to find a hospital that would be willing keep the little boy on life support.

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New Jersey is the only state in the United States to accept patients with brain death certificates.

“We don’t know what we’re going to do. We’re very confused about it,” Fonseca told CBS.

It’s a race against time for the family. They hope to find a hospital that will perform a surgery that would give the little boy a breathing tube that would allow him to remain on life support.

“I absolutely believe this is the parent’s choice. It’s not for the state of California, it’s not for the doctors to make this declaration as long as this child’s heart is beating,” said Alexandra Snyder with Life Legal defense, an organization that supports clients in court with death cases.

The family says they believe there is still hope.

But as one doctor explains, once a patient is declared brain dead, there is no chance of recovery.

“No parents should ever have to go through the experience of having to lose a child,” said Dr. Randy Wax, chief of critical care at Lakeridge Health, in Oshawa, Ont.

But it’s hard for any family to accept that their loved one is gone, Wax said.

“From the family’s perspective, they see a chest rising and breathing. Looking at your child hooked up to those machines, it’s difficult because they have the appearance of still being alive.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "From the family's perspective, they see a chest rising and breathing. Looking at your child hooked up to those machines, it's difficult because they have the appearance of still being alive."

People usually understand death as the heart stopping, he explained. The body looks dead when that happens.

But in the case of being brain dead, “It’s a really difficult situation for anyone to accept,” Wax said.

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For Israel Stinson, having a tracheotomy would give the boy up to two more weeks of life support, Wax added.

“If the patient is declared brain dead, there is no hope of recovery,” Wax said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If the patient is declared brain dead, there is no hope of recovery," Wax said.

Doctors do everything they can and follow very strict guidelines before declaring someone brain dead, he said.

Just like in Canada, the patient has to be taken off life support. But there is the rare case where the family doesn’t accept it, he said.

The boy’s parents have taken videos of their son making slight movements. They believe he is very much alive and said they will continue to fight for their son.