Baby Kennedy's Superhero HealthFund
Donation protected
Kennedy Marie Blalock was born August 27, 2015 to Adam Blalock and Ashley McNamara Blalock. Kennedy, our family’s miracle baby, has already beaten overwhelming odds. Doctors said she was unlikely to survive for more than a few hours. That even if she did, she may not survive the long, risky surgeries necessary to sustain her life. But she did. She survived a ten-hour open heart surgery. A second heart surgery. Surgery to correct gastroschisis, placing Kennedy’s intestines back in her body. Insertion of a tracheotomy. All in the first month of her life. And after two months in the hospital, she is finally home with her parents, Ashley and Adam.
But the journey for Kennedy, Ashley, and Adam is only beginning. Kennedy has Hypo Plastic Left Heart Syndrome and Heterotaxy, conditions that will require more open-heart surgeries over the course of her childhood. The next surgery is scheduled for just a few months from now. She is homebound until then, and will endure another long hospital stay afterward.
To care for Kennedy at home, both in between surgeries and in the longer term, Ashley and Adam have mastered skills no parent should have to learn. They change Kennedy’s infant trach, interpret heart monitoring data, and nourish their child through a feeding tube. They cannot leave their home with Kennedy—not even on Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Kennedy and her parents need our help. Both Ashley and Adam must return to their full-time jobs soon, and Kennedy needs long-term at-home nursing. The medical bills are already mounting, and the invoices they have received are only the beginning.
We, Kennedy’s family, are using GoFundMe this holiday season to humbly ask our community for help with raising funds for Kennedy’s current medical bills and for her future care. No donation is too small, and we are wholly thankful for any contribution you may be able to give.
Ashley and Adam enter this trying time with gratitude for the excellent medical care provided by the Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s NICU & CVICU. In fact, Ashley—born a 1lb 7 ounce triplet and a miracle baby in her own right—was both treated at CHOC as an infant and currently works there as a Child Life Specialist. CHOC saved her life a generation ago, and now has saved her baby.
But the journey for Kennedy, Ashley, and Adam is only beginning. Kennedy has Hypo Plastic Left Heart Syndrome and Heterotaxy, conditions that will require more open-heart surgeries over the course of her childhood. The next surgery is scheduled for just a few months from now. She is homebound until then, and will endure another long hospital stay afterward.
To care for Kennedy at home, both in between surgeries and in the longer term, Ashley and Adam have mastered skills no parent should have to learn. They change Kennedy’s infant trach, interpret heart monitoring data, and nourish their child through a feeding tube. They cannot leave their home with Kennedy—not even on Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Kennedy and her parents need our help. Both Ashley and Adam must return to their full-time jobs soon, and Kennedy needs long-term at-home nursing. The medical bills are already mounting, and the invoices they have received are only the beginning.
We, Kennedy’s family, are using GoFundMe this holiday season to humbly ask our community for help with raising funds for Kennedy’s current medical bills and for her future care. No donation is too small, and we are wholly thankful for any contribution you may be able to give.
Ashley and Adam enter this trying time with gratitude for the excellent medical care provided by the Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s NICU & CVICU. In fact, Ashley—born a 1lb 7 ounce triplet and a miracle baby in her own right—was both treated at CHOC as an infant and currently works there as a Child Life Specialist. CHOC saved her life a generation ago, and now has saved her baby.
Organizer and beneficiary
Kelly Maureen McNamara
Organizer
Orange, CA
Ashley McNamara
Beneficiary