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Community goes to bat for Anthony: Baseball club, MLB players, family and friends rally in support of hospitalized 11-y

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When your only child doesn’t feel well, you start to worry. When they are admitted to the hospital with an unknown diagnosis, your world spins out of control.

For Cranston dad and school bus driver Chris Campogagne, his world turned upside down on Friday, Sept. 11.

Anthony, who lives with his mom Diana D’Ambrosio in Johnston, just turned 11 and attends Thornton Elementary School.

“On Friday, Anthony started getting a fever. Then on Saturday he still had a temp, called the doctor and went for a COVID test just to be safe, which came back negative,” Chris said.

When he came home from his mom’s house on Monday, he started to complain of some pain in his upper right leg.

“That night he woke up to use the bathroom and was dizzy. He was still running a fever on Sunday, so he rested all day. Then on Monday morning while I was at work, his step-mom took his temp twice with two different readings. With that happening his mom came over with her thermometer and his temp was 103,” Chris said.

When Chris pulled up to his house, Anthony was in tears because he couldn’t walk and his right leg was in extreme pain.

“Anthony and I had a video chat with his doctor again, and he said take him to Hasbro. We spent Monday all day in the ER until we were brought to his room at midnight. The first diagnosis we were told about was on Tuesday morning. We had three different teams of doctors – pediatric team, orthopedic team and an infectious disease team. We were told then that he has a rare bone infection called osteomyelitis,” Chris said.

All teams are working closely together to find the right treatment to cure this disease. The ortho team did a surgery that washed out fluid so they could do a culture. His inflammatory markers were at 168 and they needed to be down around 10. He has continued to get fevers as high as 101 and his inflammatory markers have only come down to 118.

“Prognosis is a full but very slow recovery, that hopefully takes only four to six weeks after leaving the hospital. He cannot leave the hospital until his temp stays normal for 48 hours and his inflammatory markers are cut by half,” said Chris.

Anthony’s passion is baseball. And the organization he played for, the Ocean State Bandits Baseball Club 11U, set up a special fundraising Facebook message to ask for help for the family.

“He is currently fighting to recover but much is unknown about his illness and what the road to recovery entails. This will be very draining on the Campagnone family as both parents will be needed during this difficult time. Anthony could be in the hospital up to six weeks and that is before any additional care is needed,” the message reads.

More information is available on the Ocean State Bandits Baseball Club’s Facebook page. Those interested in helping the family may call Heather at (401) 616-7156 or visit checkout.square.site/pay/a63f2aeff3534ce09cd1a2d7c7f23210.

“Anthony loves his baseball and hopes to go to Hendricken and play for the Yankees someday,” Chris said.

Since he is limited to his mom and dad as his only visitors, Anthony has been extra appreciative and excited about receiving messages from some very special people.

“Anthony has been getting video messages from MLB players such as Gio Urshela from the Yankees, Christian Vazquez from the Red Sox, Salvador Perez from the KC Royals and Juan Soto from the Washington Nationals. They are keeping his spirits high,” Chris said.

The family is also grateful to friends and family members for the deliveries of Taco Bell, pizza and chicken parm to help keep their strength and spirits up.

“On Monday, Anthony found out he would be staying in the hospital longer than anticipated as he was going to have a PICC line put in. That was a huge blow to his spirits,” Chris said.

The PICC line will have to stay in for four to six weeks to administer his medications while he recovering at his mom’s house. He will have a nurse come to help with that. He will also have to go to the hospital once a week for blood tests. There will also be physical therapy for his hip.

Anthony wants everyone to know how overwhelmed he is by the love and support he has received.

“Guess I’m pretty popular,” he joked.

illness, baseball

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