James's Throat and Lung Fund

James was born during Hurricane Irma, on September 11th in a rural hospital in Alabama; he was one month early and only weighed 5 pounds. After almost 30 hours, he was transported via critical care ambulance to Children's of Alabama. His esophagus did not connect to his stomach, it ended in a pouch in his upper chest, so everything he swallowed went straight into his lungs, EA/TEF Type C (https://www.chw.org/medical-care/fetal-concerns-center/conditions/infant-complications/tracheal-esophageal-fistula-and-esophageal-atresia). At 2 days old, he underwent a 5.5 hour surgery to stitch his throat back together. Since that inital surgery, he has had almost 10 other surgeries, a life-flight helicopter ride, and numerous pokes and procedures; he is only 6 months old. He has bilateral coloboma of his eyes, with no clue about how his vision will develop, he was born with 2 holes in his heart, an extra left fully-formed thumb, and possible teathered spinal cord - his is diagnosed with VACTERL syndrome. We did recently receive the amazing news that the holes in his heart have now closed. We thought we were in the clear with the expected dilations for his esophagus, possible spinal surgery, and the waiting game on his vision and removal of the extra thumb... However, at our latest visit, we found out he is only breathing with one lung and will require another round of major surgery and stay in the intensive care unit with the tubes and pain... and the unknowns. We are blessed to have him as a son, to provide him the best life possible, but this last, unexpected challenge is hard, very hard. A lot of folks have reached out, wanting to help, and we are truly humbled by how much support our little guy has throughout our community. So, we have created this venue for folks to support him through his journey with the promise that any money over the goal will go straight to the wonderful folks at the NICU for baby swings, clothes, and any other support they need for the tiny humans they save on a daily basis. As parents who lived the institutionalized life of the NICU, it would be a great goal to help the parents too, there are only a select few rooms with comfortable sleeper chairs for parents... otherwise you are sitting upright in a stiff recliner that doesn't actually recline. You are always hungry, always thirsty, but those needs are on the backburner when you look at your child- the child with a chest tube, on a breathing machine. It would be a honor to help those future parents with items to make the most heart wrenching moments of their life just a touch easier.