A Colorado family is facing the unimaginable as they prepare to say goodbye to their one-year-old son, Alastor, who is set to be taken off life support on Friday after a sudden and devastating illness.
His parents, Eric Ryan and Maegan Coffin, say their once happy, energetic baby became critically ill earlier this year after developing the flu and croup.
”On January 9th, my one and a half year old son, Alastor, woke up congested and struggling to breathe,” Maegan shared.
But what began as a routine hospital visit quickly turned into every parent’s worst nightmare.
The couple first took Alastor to an emergency department in Northglenn, near Denver, on January 9. He was diagnosed and sent home with medication, but when his condition failed to improve, they rushed him back.
“After they did the X-ray, he stopped breathing,” Coffin recalled in an interview with KDVR Denver.
Doctors attempted to intubate him before transferring him by ambulance to another hospital. His mother believes there may have been a prolonged period where he was without oxygen — something that may have caused irreversible damage.
Over the weekend, Ryan shared the heartbreaking update that their son had effectively been declared brain dead.
“It took me a while to be able to even write this,” he said. “We always understood how severe his situation was but we would never give up hope on him.”
“None of them deserved this”
In a moment no family should ever have to endure, Alastor’s siblings were present during a brain activity test — only to learn there was no brain function.
“My other children wanted to be there for his test [last] Friday and watching them each break down destroyed a part of me,” Ryan said. “None of them deserved this. I would do anything just to take their pain away.”
Remembering his son, he described Alastor as “such a happy baby and in his short time he became the center of our family,” adding that he still does not “want to believe this is real.”
Coffin later shared that Alastor had also been diagnosed with the little-known human metapneumovirus, a respiratory virus that, along with croup, can “cause the swelling in his throat and make it hard for him to breathe.” The virus has been on the rise in recent months and can be especially dangerous for infants.
“HMPV causes symptoms very similar to RSV,” says Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases. “This includes upper respiratory symptoms that sometimes progress to pneumonia or bronchiolitis and wheezing.”
As the Coffin family grapple with their grief, the parents say they are now considering legal action against the first hospital that treated their son, questioning whether more could have been done — and whether decisions were made too quickly.
Denied access to his son in intensive care
“We wanted to give him time to rest and see if there was any chance that his brain could heal at all,” Ryan wrote.
He added that Alastor’s other organs were “working fine” and that he was not “suffering or taking up a bed that could be used by someone else.” When he asked why there seemed to be a “rush” to perform brain death testing, he said, “they wouldn’t answer.”
Ryan also described a painful moment when he was briefly denied access to his son in intensive care.
“I even told the guard that I have been in his room every day and no one has said anything,” he said. “It’s like he almost didn’t believe me… I haven’t threatened anyone here. I haven’t even raised my voice with anyone.”
Although a nurse eventually allowed him in, the experience only deepened the family’s anguish.
“Not only has this been one of the worst experiences of our lives but this hospital has made it so much worse,” he said.
Now, as they prepare for their final moments with their son, the family is surrounded by support from loved ones, with a fundraiser helping to ease some of the financial burden. Their attorney told KDVR Denver that Alastor will is expected to be taken off life support on Friday.
“I just want all of this to be over already,” Ryan wrote.
What a horrific tragedy this is. Alastor’s story is a heartbreaking reminder of how quickly life can change — and of the unimaginable strength it takes for a family to say goodbye to a child far too soon.