A Lompoc police officer’s son took a turn for the worse in his battle with leukemia as the community continues to rally around him.
Noah Scott, 14, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in July 2016 and started receiving chemotherapy at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Since then, Lompoc’s community has showered the teenager and his family with support. A GoFundMe page received nearly $25,000 in donations, supporters filled downtown streets with orange ribbons and balloons in his name, and social media lit up with messages for Noah.
On May 29, he was transferred to UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital for more specialized care. Noah, who is also a police explorer, had been stable and showed positive signs toward recovery, but he recently developed a sudden fungal infection. By June 16, his condition had worsened and he was placed on dialysis.
In an emotional video uploaded to the Team Noah Facebook page on June 17, Noah’s father, Lompoc Police Department Cpl. Charles Scott, laid out the details of Noah’s condition.
“Doctors aren’t saying that [his kidneys] failed but they are under distress,” Scott said in the video. “His liver is also showing signs of distress. … Noah is really, really sick.”
On June 19, the family posted another update on Facebook.
“There really hasn’t been any positive changes,” the post stated. “His white blood cell count went up because of the introduction of the donated white blood cells. Now today he is back down to .03. The main worry is still the fungal infection and buying Noah enough time to let his body beat the infection.”
Noah had trouble forming words and couldn’t move his left arm or respond to pain stimulation on it over the weekend. He also had pain in his stomach and later became unresponsive, which prompted doctors to suspect he had possibly suffered a stroke.
Michael Miller, a family friend who spoke on behalf of the Scotts, said that after an MRI on June 19, the family was told the infection had spread to Noah’s brain, causing him to become unresponsive.
Ultimately, doctors must wait for Noah’s body to get stronger before more can be done, Miller explained.
“He’s not strong enough to undergo any tests to find out either way,” he said. “Right now they are just trying to get his body strong enough and hold out for that to happen.”
The symptoms are part of a worst-case scenario doctors warned the family about, including his kidneys breaking down, infection spreading to other parts of his body, and being placed on a ventilator.
“It hurts to say that five days later we are standing at the base of this worst case scenario staring up,” the June 19 Facebook post stated.
The community support for Noah has extended beyond Lompoc, with hundreds of people sending well wishes to the Team Noah Facebook page, writing cards, sending gifts and donations, or using the #yougotthiskid hashtag on social media.
Chief Pat Walsh in Lompoc said in a statement that support continues to grow for the teenager.
“The community has sent flowers, cards, donations, calls, texts, emails, and pizza,” Walsh stated. “UCLA has received over 100 calls from Lompoc and is blown away at the community support. They indicated they have never seen this amount of community support. That is Lompoc for you.”
In his video, Scott explained the white blood cell donations, which are needed to fight the infection, could only be done at the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center because they must be harvested and then donated almost immediately.
The Scott family thanked the community in their Facebook post as well.
“The amount of support we’ve had is unbelievable and we are forever grateful,” they stated. “This community has carried us at times, not sure what we did or how we deserve this blessing but we are thankful.”
In the video, Scott said Noah and the family relied on prayer and their faith to help them through it all.
“[Noah’s mother] Kristin asked him yesterday if he wanted to fight and he said ‘Yes,’” he said. “Even with our faith, it’s not easy. Kristin and I are broken. To see your child that sick and to know in your mind that he is dying isn’t anything a parent should have to do.”
To offer blood donations for Noah, contact the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center at (310) 267-0284.
