It’s been a normal Thursday. You plan to leave the house in about an hour for Wiscasset Middle High School, to pick up your seventh grader.

A Wiscasset student since kindergarten, he loves it at WMHS. He’s almost like the school mascot — everyone knows him and supports him. That is hugely important, because he has an intellectual disability; and because he’s a 13-year-old.

While you’re still home, the school calls. It’s an adult who works with your son. He explains, your son’s OK, he's in the nurse’s office, where he went to get his hair checked. There, he slid his fingers down a bed cushion and a needle, a diabetic lancet for testing blood sugar level, pricked him. 

The next day, you and hospital staff hold down your confused and frightened son for a blood draw to test for HIV and Hepatitis B and C. As a precaution, at your pediatrician’s recommendation, your son starts on two HIV medications.

He can’t swallow a pill, and these can’t be chewed. He's choking them down, every morning. 

If this was your Oct. 8 and everything that followed it, you're Jessica Guthro, and this is a part of your and your son’s life for now. More blood draws are ahead.

In an interview Friday night, hours after she and son Liam met with administrators and others at the school, Guthro shared with Wiscasset Newspaper her family’s experience, one week in: From her being dumbfounded that something like that, a prick from a wayward needle at the nurse’s office, could even happen; to being appreciative of the school’s response and hopeful that, between the measures the school has taken and her choice to go public with their experience, this will not happen again to any family here or elsewhere.

Friday's school visit was Liam's first time there in a week, while mother and son adjusted to the situation and its impacts.

Recalling the Oct. 8 call, Guthro said, "I didn't even process why Liam was in the nurse's office to begin with. My mind instantly went to, 'Why is my kid getting poked with a needle? What are you talking about?'"

For the blood draw at Mid Coast Hospital Oct. 9, Guthro said, "I had to hold Liam, pin his arm between my legs, lay across his chest, while two men outstretched and held his arm down while he was lifting them out of chairs, and another guy drew his blood. It was traumatic. It was awful. And we have to do it two more times."

Due to his disability, "he does not understand any of this," his mother said. "He doesn't understand why he's being hurt. He doesn't understand the two pills that he has to choke down every morning ..."

Guthro said the school didn't know how long the needle might have been in the nurse's office bed. "That's the scariest part," she said. She was told the entire room has been cleaned now.

She said Friday's conversation was with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kim Andersson, WMHS Principal Chris Hennessey, Special Education Director Amanda Little and the staff member who works with Liam and called her after the incident.

"They're all so sorry. Nobody in that room had a smile on their faces. Everyone was upset. Everyone misses Liam. He's like the school mascot, almost. Everybody knows this kid wherever we go." She recalled of Friday's visit, "he walked right up to the principal and fist bumped him. He hugged Kim Andersson. He hugged his teacher. He hugged the special education director. He needs school. School is amazing for him. And his friends, the support that he has from his friends at that school are one of the main reasons" he attends Wiscasset, she shared.

Leaving the hospital Oct. 9, Liam wouldn't let his mother hug him. "That's not me and Liam. Anybody that knows Liam knows that we're each other's person, like, when he's sad, he wants Mama, and he wouldn't let me touch him," he was so upset and confused, Guthro recalled. 

She said she was told Friday, the medical bills will be covered, which was good because one of the HIV medications was $2,900; the other, $1,800, she said.

First on Facebook and then accepting the interview, Guthro went public with her family's experience so people will be "aware that this is a situation that happened, but ... that the school is doing what they can to make it right." And she hoped parents of children with diabetes will read about what happened, "and they'll sit down and have a conversation, like 'This is why we pay attention to what we do with our needles.'"

Of this whole experience, she said, "It's really a hard situation to wrap your head around, honestly ... The fact that one of these needles was misplaced is just dumbfounding."

Guthro planned for her son to return to class Monday, Oct. 19.

"They have been so apologetic. There was concern on their faces today. While we were in there, they were apologizing to Liam ... I feel like the school can head in a good direction. They just need some help from the parents, too. Parents backing them, as opposed to gung ho, 'Let's fire everybody,' because firing everybody isn't going to get anything accomplished."

In public comments apart from the needle incident, school officials have said the nurse's office has been covered by multiple staff of late. School nurse Sommer Maybee was arrested in Wiscasset Sept. 22 under the last name of Harding on an OUI charge. She later resigned and a search for WMHS's next nurse began.

Wiscasset Newspaper asked Andersson via email about the needle incident, including had any protocol been in place to prevent such an incident; any steps being taken to prevent a recurrence; how long was the lancet believed to have been there; was the school department paying for the medical testing the student is undergoing; and "any comment on what the child and their family is having to go through and how it hit you when you learned of the incident."

"We are not legally able to discuss or disclose any student issues with anyone except the students' parents," Andersson responded.

She added later, "Every time there is an incident at school we do our best to resolve it immediately in the best interest of students and staff. When mistakes and accidents happen, our team reacts professionally and immediately to address it. Then we debrief and determine what changes we need to make to improve the situation for the future. Then we make the changes necessary.

"Our work is rooted in promoting growth and change for all learners, this is what guides our decision-making every day. As administrators and teachers, we model this reflective practice for our students. We have great students who care for each other deeply. Many of our students are together from kindergarten to 12th grade; they care about one another and it shows. They are kind, tough, and resilient. I’m proud of our staff, our students, and our school."