Tyler and Alexa Reddick were in a terrible situation last year with their son Rookie facing a life-threatening illness. While everything seemed bleak,  it was ignorance of the doctors in the initial months that affected the family.

While talking about her predicament on Samantha Busch’s podcast, Alexa Reddick shared how negligent doctors were trying to dismiss her concerns about Rookie throughout the ordeal.

“Hey, we really don’t have any answers, but we can run a full like these three tests we can run to figure out what’s going on. Nothing’s going wrong,” said Alexa on Samantha Busch’s podcast. “Okay, great. Um, we’ll send you to ENT. Send us an ENT in Mooresville. He’s like, I don’t see anything. I’ll send you to Ped’s ENT in Charlotte. So, I have like an outstanding bill of like $1,200 to Charlotte ENT because he was making this wheezing sound.”

With wheezing sounds and vomiting that always seemed concerning to Alexa, Rookie’s health was declining rapidly, but she struggled to get doctors to understand the same.

“They dismissed us so many times it’s sickening,” she added. “So, I’m taking now pictures and videos like, ‘They’re telling me, like, there’s no way he’s throwing up his whole stomach or sure it looks like a lot, but really if you take, you know, 20 mls and pour it on the ground, it might look like an ounce.  Okay, here’s a picture next to my foot. This is four of my feet. Like, this is his whole stomach.”

As Rookie’s health kept getting worse, Alexa was getting concerned and managed to get referrals at different places, including Atrium Health where the family had a poor experience.

Alexa Reddick’s troubles with Atrium Health

Despite the seriousness of Rookie’s situation, Atrium was only ready to provide an appointment in February 2026,  which was still a few good months away. This angered Alexa and she asked Atrium to look at other locations for appointments, but the result was going to be the same.

“She’s like, ‘Oh, we have an appointment available in Huntersville on, you know, March 9th, 2026.’ And I’m like, ‘Is this a f****** joke to you? Is this a joke? Do I sound like this is a f****** joke?'” Alexa said. “He’s losing weight. Is this not like a stat referral? Like, what kind of referral is this? Can you forward it to me because, you know, I said, my baby is losing weight. Like, he cannot sustain himself.”

While the couple were finally able to get out of their crisis after Rookie’s surgery, the harrowing experience continues to affect Alexa emotionally, which was visible on Samantha Busch’s podcast.

Tyler Reddick confirmed that Rookie had been recovering well from the operation. Despite what was a very complicated few months for his family in the offseason, the 23XI driver has started 2026 better than a lot would have expected. He seems to be focused on winning the Cup  Series title for his son as a reward for his bravery in fighting such a serious condition at a small age.