Doctors: Tree limb injured both sides of toddler's brain

ATLANTA — A toddler recovering after being struck by a tree limb has survived a crucial night Wednesday, but family members said the boy is still in for an up-hill battle.

Two-year-old Tripp Halstead was outside his Winder day care on Monday when a tree limb fell and hit his head. Doctors said the limb injured both sides of the brain, which means Tripp will have to fight that much more to heal.

Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh learned the latest update on the family's Facebook page devoted to Tripp's status. They spoke to her Thursday outside Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Egleston.

"He is still here, so every time that we go in there and he's still there it's a positive," Tripp's aunt, Crystal Cordon, said.

Tripp's father, Bill Hallstead, updated his Facebook page around 8 a.m. Thursday saying, "Tripp had a very good night...Right up until around 5:30am, then he just, for lack of a better term crashed very suddenly."

He said the medical team quickly resolved a blocked breathing tube and they are waiting for CT results after a new scan.

The family believes if any toddler can survive the injury, it's Tripp.

"Most kids would not have survived that accident. So, we just think the prayers are working," Cordon said.

The first 72 hours of Tripp's survival marked a milestone, but doctors will keep him in an induced coma and the next benchmark will be Saturday, day five.

The Halsteads said they are taken aback by the outpouring of support for Tripp. A Facebook page dedicated to Tripp with updates from his family has more than 7,000 likes. The family said they read all of the well wishes left for them.

"He's our only child. We tried and tried for years and we finally have a baby, so he's very much a miracle baby, too," Tripp's mother, Stacy Halstead, said.

WSBTV