Brock Borton was just a regular 16-year-old kid at the beginning of February 2023. The Hanahan High School junior lived and breathed baseball and was a healthy, active student. One morning that month, Borton woke up before school feeling terrible, and felt even worse over the course of a week.
It was when his left eye began swelling that his family saw red flags that this was no typical illness. The hospital near his home was unable to treat him, and that’s the last thing he remembered before he woke up many weeks later – a medical miracle who defied the odds of survival by the slightest of margins.
Borton was immediately transferred to MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, where he was put into a medically-induced coma.
“It’s hard to keep track of it all. I heard I was in a coma for two weeks, then I heard I was in a coma for two months. It’s surreal to think about,” Borton said. “In all my years of living, I would not expect something like that to happen to me. Looking back now that I know what happened and how I’m here now is mind blowing.”
It turns out Borton’s brain had been developing an infection for about a month before his symptoms began.
“In Brock’s case, his infection stemmed from a sinus infection which was not completely cleared by his body or antibiotics,” explained Dr. Ramin Eskandari, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Shawn Jenkins. “He had subdural empyemas. Multiple. Around his entire brain. It was the most extensive infection I have ever seen around anyone’s brain. This was directly on top of his brain, and not inside the brain tissue, thankfully.”
Those days in the hospital were a blur. Ventilators, breathing tubes, feeding tubes and a tracheotomy are just some of the things he experienced during his months-long stay. His chances to survive or simply recover from such a severe brain infection were gravely low. The once agile and charismatic high schooler lost the ability to move his limbs or speak; he also lost over 40 pounds throughout the ordeal.
Medically, he skirted the odds because he did not have a stroke throughout the debilitating infection. However, Borton added that his baseball team and the Hanahan community stepped up to the plate to support him and his family and played a part in his recovery – more than he ever realized from his hospital bed.
“When I was more aware of things, my twin sister would always come to the hospital and show me what people were doing and saying,” he said. “They held prayer circles – even at my baseball field, they raised money for bills and they had an oyster roast. I wasn’t always aware of it, but everything they did was such a help to me and my family.”
Borton said it was a big struggle to work on his fine motor skills each day in the hospital once he gained the strength to do so, but he knew he had to reach these milestones so he could go home. His father turned his home office into a workout room for Borton, who was still experiencing challenges with walking when he did finally return home.
Unfortunately, his triumphant return was short-lived. About two weeks later, Borton’s infection came back, and once again he was in the hospital. “Brock had so much infection that it was trapped in his scalp even after he was fully treated and had fully recovered,” Dr. Eskandari said. “Fortunately this infection did not affect him the same way because it was caught quicker as part of our routine surveillance.“
In total, Borton underwent 11 brain surgeries. The last two were to take out a piece of his skull permanently and replace it with a 3D printed prosthetic. “It takes a long time to make one, so during the time they were making the new piece, they had to send me home without the left side of my skull,” he explained.
Borton said it took a few more months for him to master walking again, but as soon as he was able, the pitcher and right fielder was back on the field.
“I’ve been playing baseball for 15 years, there’s nothing I can forget about that,” he grinned. “It felt good being back. I came back knowing I wasn’t as good as I was prior to this. That was the hardest part. It was a struggle, but it takes time.”
Reflecting on Borton’s case, Dr. Eskandari explained that symptoms for brain infections begin like many other less serious health issues – fever, vomiting, headaches or a general ‘unwell’ feeling. “The symptoms can be general and vague. The recommendation to go to a hospital is when they are only getting worse or changes in the neurological status, headache severity and/or not responsive to first line medications.”
He added that Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital has fast brain MRI imaging that does not require sedation or anesthesia, so brain imaging can be done quickly to identify or rule out brain infections.
Borton and Dr. Eskandari both attribute his unlikely recovery to the team of medical professionals who cared for him over his months in the hospital.
“It was amazing teamwork between multiple services: pediatric ICU, Neurosurgery, Infectious Disease and Pediatric General Surgery. Being aggressive and timely with stages and surgeries to help clear the infection was the only way to ensure his brain could continue without ever having a stroke,” Dr. Eskandari said.
As for Borton, now 17 and a senior, he is thrilled to be returning to the mound with dreams of winning a state championship for his high school, and a bigger perspective on life: “Don’t take life for granted, because you never know when it could get stripped away from you. I’m so happy to be back.”
By Anne Toole
