Maggie Rudy Saturday Emergency 6/16/18

June 16, 2018

Maggie works for Frederick County Parks and Recreation as Assistant Director of the summer nature center program at Catoctin Creek Park, Middletown. She was leading a group of kids through the creek with Stacey Jones at the back of the line.  Stacey saw her fall, thought she may have tripped on a rock, but she did not immediately get back up.  Stacey and others pulled her from the creek - she had fallen face-first into the water.  They immediately began CPR and called paramedics.  Maggie responded and was coughing water up, but was having some difficulty breathing.  Paramedics arrived quickly and sedated and intubated her.

Background: Maggie has a history of absence or petit mal seizures as a child, and was under neurological care from the age of 4.  These seizures were treatable with medication, and she actually came off medication and was seizure-free for about 5 years in high school and college.  Last summer however, Maggie had a seizure in June that was different - a grand mal, or generalized tonic/clonic.  Paramedics attended her, but she was released without a hospital visit. Her neurologist started her back on her former medication after this event.

In April of this year she had a seizure during a test at college, and in May she had a seizure after graduation.  Her Neurologist started a second medication to treat the generalized tonic/clonic (Lamictal) but it needs to be ramped up slowly.

Back to Saturday: In the Frederick Memorial Hospital ER, Maggie began seizing (probably due to the trauma) which the doctors worked to control with medication.  They also worked to suction the water from her lungs. It was decided that the best treatment course for her was to send her to UMD Shock Trauma in Baltimore.  She was airlifted in the afternoon, arrived to the neurological ER, and later in the day moved to a bed in the neurological ICU.

Many thanks to Stacey and the entire Catoctin Creek staff, the paramedics, the staff at FMH, and the team at UMD shock trauma!