Callum's NICU Journey

Hi, my name is, Stephanie Martin, I'm doing a fundraiser for my son, Callum. He was born August 6, 2023, at 26 weeks gestational age weighting 1 pound 2.5 ounces, and his length was 10.6 inches long. He was born via c-section due to complications. The NICU nurses and doctors took care of him while I was in recovery.

The first month he was doing amazing, the nurses and doctors were surprised how well he was doing for how little he was. He was growing, gaining weight and breathing for himself with a little help from the ventilator. He's our little miracle that has been fighting so hard before he even was born.

When Callum was 8 weeks old, he got Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC). Our hearts had dropped, our baby boy was deathly sick. NEC is an intestinal infection that causes the intestines to fill up with air which leads to bacterial invasion. The bacteria can cause the intestine to die and/or rip open. In Callum's case, it caused swelling of his belly and scar tissue to form where the intestine was weak from being sick. After 14 days of antibiotics, he was getting better. He was drinking his milk and handling it well. We got through it, and he showed us how strong he is.

Six weeks go by, and Callum started getting sick again. He wasn't handling his milk anymore; he couldn't digest anything. His doctors did x-rays and contrast test to figure out what was going on. After careful review with the surgeons, radiologists and the nurses, they found what looked like to be a stricture in is intestine. The surgeon went over the risks and benefits of this surgery. On November 22, 2023, Callum had exploratory laparotomy to remove the stricture in his intestine. I was terrified. Our baby boy at three months old was having dangerous intestinal surgery.

After surgery the surgeon who performed the surgery came in to talk to us about what he had found. He told us that Callum had 5 kinks in a localized area of his intestine from being sick with NEC. The kinks were formed by scar tissue, and they couldn't let anything pass through. The surgeon was able to cut out the scar tissue and open up the intestines back up. We were extremely grateful they had found the issue and were able to fix it.

After surgery Callum was doing good, for a couple of hours then complications started to happen. His right lung had collapsed. The nurse had to call a cold blue to his room because he wasn't breathing. The air leak from his breathing tube was too big causing him to not be able to catch a breath. The doctor that was in charge of Callum that day had to change the intubation tube multiple times in order to find the right one that would help him breathe. They had to switch ventilators to help him re-inflate his right lung.

The next day after Callum's lung had collapsed, his doctor had asked cardiology to come do an echo ultrasound to see if the blood flow was good to the lungs and back to the heart. While the cardiologist was performing the ultrasound, they noticed that a couple of his pulmonary veins were constricted. The doctors waited a couple of days to see if the collapsed lung was the cause of the restrictions.

In the meantime, they had to keep Callum under sedation so he wouldn't fight the breathing tube. After that everything was going well. Callum incision was healing good and looked really good. Then a couple of days later, Callum developed an E. coli infection under the incision site. The surgeon that was on call that day noticed that the redness was getting worse, so she decided to open the incision up and out came a pocket of puss. The doctor started antibiotics to treat the infection, which lasted seven days. Wound care nurses got involved to make sure that they were optimizing care on the incision to make sure it heals correctly.

After Callum's lungs had re-inflated the cardiologist came back to do another echo. They noticed that the strictures in the pulmonary veins had gotten a little better. The turbulence from the lung to the heart had decreased; however, it was still an issue. They kept repeating the echo's every couple of days to see what kind of progress the pulmonary veins were making. For a couple of days, they seemed to be getting better, and then they took a turn for the worse. The pulmonary veins were severely restricted. The cardiologist reached out to Stanford Childrens Hospital in California, and we knew how bad and how serious this really is. As of right now, we are waiting to hear back from Stanford Childrens Hospital as of when they can take over care for Callum.

The funds we receive will be used for Callum's medical bills, his transportation to Stanford Childrens Hospital, the test and procedures he will need to fix his heart.