David & Katie -baby's heart surgery- medical costs
Donation protected
Hi, I'm David's mom, he is my baby, and I am Grandma to his sweet baby boy that will soon be joining the world and our family. This precious baby must have heart surgery immediately following his birth in June. Our family is hopeful that all will go well, but we live a couple of hours away from where he must have his surgery. So added to the worry and stress of the surgery itself, there will be lots of expenses - 2 hospitals, helicopter transport for baby, travel, hotels, etc. I'm hoping you will find it in your heart to help take away some of their financial stress and donate to this fundraiser. All money contributed goes to making baby's heart heal. His sister is super excited for her brother to arrive - she will tell you the "tubes" in her brother's heart are backwards. But to better explain the situation, I am going to use Katie's words. She is one of the best daughter-in-laws you could ever ask for and an awesome mom. Here are her words:
When you become pregnant, you assume two things: 1. The pregnancy is viable; and 2. That in the end you will have a happy, healthy baby. You create your birth plan, plan the nursery, buy all the cute stuff and blissfully suffer your way through the pregnancy (or through helping a pregnant woman), expecting joy and happiness when the baby comes into the world.
At the beginning of February, we got a glimpse that maybe our son wouldn’t be the perfect baby. A few weeks and sonograms later, we got confirmation that his little body is not quite perfect. Everything is not alright.
This little one has two congenital heart defects. They are often seen together. The major defect is called dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries (dTGA). The other is a hole inside his heart called a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). To give the most basic explanation, the major arteries of his heart, the Aorta and Pulmonary Artery, are transposed, or switched. He has oxygen-poor blood coming into his heart from his body, and instead of getting sent over to the lungs, it’s just getting pumped back out to the body, without oxygen. The oxygen-rich blood that is coming in from his lungs is getting pumped right back out to his lungs. The VSD is a hole in the ventricular septum that can be repaired. Babies have two extra holes in their hearts in utero that close up shortly after birth. These holes, plus the addition of the VSD, are allowing oxygen-rich blood to spill over into the poor side of his heart, which then gets pumped out to the body. So, he is getting oxygen throughout his body, just not as much as he should.
Without intervention, the dTGA would kill him, undoubtedly.
When he is born, the baby may or may not have to be intubated, depending on how saturated his blood is. Within a week of his birth, he will undergo open heart surgery to have the arteries switched to their proper places and the VSD repaired. He’ll be in hospital for two to three weeks after that while he’s weaned off machines and medications. His total recovery time will be approximately six weeks after surgery. This surgery has a 99% success rate, so we are feeling positive.
To say that I’m not worried or scared would be a lie. I’ve always found comfort in numbers and statistics, so I feel good about the outcome. But no amount of statistics can take away the uncertainty. It’s a 99% success rate, not 100%… someone has to be that one percent. Furthermore, having to explain to a four year old about how the baby she is so eager to meet and love on is going to be delicate and won’t come home for a few weeks really sucks. She can tell you that his “tubes” are switched and that he’ll be in hospital for a while. She has also expressed her fear that the doctors won’t do “their very best job” during the surgery and they’ll mess up. She’s worried about being away from me for that period of time because I’ll be in Atlanta while she and David are at home and she’s never been away from me more than the length of a work day. She’s four. She shouldn’t be worrying about these things. And honestly, while I have my moments of fear for the baby, what really gets me and makes me cry is Lauren. How caring she is, how sensitive she is, and how I am going to miss her so desperately while I am in hospital with her brother. Obviously I’m going to want and need as much support as possible while he’s in recovery (I mean, I will have JUST pushed out a human) and, at this moment, because of Covid, I won’t even get to have my husband and child with me, except for the times David gets to visit for a few hours. It hurts thinking about it. It’s stressful thinking of what to take to the hospital for a regular birth, let alone planning for weeks in the hospital hours away from your home and family.
Other than the heart defect, he’s growing as he should be and everything else looks normal. In fact, it looks like the VSD is actually closing up, so by time he’s born, it might be completely gone. After surgery, he’ll go on to be perfectly normal, able to do anything any other child can do. Once his heart is fixed, it should be the end of surgeries and he’ll just have to visit the cardiologist yearly for checkups.
Also, I feel I should add that this is a severely underdiagnosed heart condition. Most people don't find out about it until the baby comes out blue or a week or so later when the baby is suddenly struggling to breathe. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to know ahead of time. We get to plan. We get to know that as soon as he is out, he will be in the hands of the NICU team and the cardiologist will be ready to examine him. We don't have to experience the dread of finding our week old baby blue and struggling to breathe, or worse, already gone. We have knowledge and a great team that is monitoring him closely (believe me, I'm tired of the appointments!). So, we're thankful.
Anyway, I just thought I’d share that little tidbit. We are fine and we will be fine. We’re just ready to meet him and to be past the surgery and time in hospital, to be home enjoying life as a family of four.
When you become pregnant, you assume two things: 1. The pregnancy is viable; and 2. That in the end you will have a happy, healthy baby. You create your birth plan, plan the nursery, buy all the cute stuff and blissfully suffer your way through the pregnancy (or through helping a pregnant woman), expecting joy and happiness when the baby comes into the world.
At the beginning of February, we got a glimpse that maybe our son wouldn’t be the perfect baby. A few weeks and sonograms later, we got confirmation that his little body is not quite perfect. Everything is not alright.
This little one has two congenital heart defects. They are often seen together. The major defect is called dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries (dTGA). The other is a hole inside his heart called a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). To give the most basic explanation, the major arteries of his heart, the Aorta and Pulmonary Artery, are transposed, or switched. He has oxygen-poor blood coming into his heart from his body, and instead of getting sent over to the lungs, it’s just getting pumped back out to the body, without oxygen. The oxygen-rich blood that is coming in from his lungs is getting pumped right back out to his lungs. The VSD is a hole in the ventricular septum that can be repaired. Babies have two extra holes in their hearts in utero that close up shortly after birth. These holes, plus the addition of the VSD, are allowing oxygen-rich blood to spill over into the poor side of his heart, which then gets pumped out to the body. So, he is getting oxygen throughout his body, just not as much as he should.
Without intervention, the dTGA would kill him, undoubtedly.
When he is born, the baby may or may not have to be intubated, depending on how saturated his blood is. Within a week of his birth, he will undergo open heart surgery to have the arteries switched to their proper places and the VSD repaired. He’ll be in hospital for two to three weeks after that while he’s weaned off machines and medications. His total recovery time will be approximately six weeks after surgery. This surgery has a 99% success rate, so we are feeling positive.
To say that I’m not worried or scared would be a lie. I’ve always found comfort in numbers and statistics, so I feel good about the outcome. But no amount of statistics can take away the uncertainty. It’s a 99% success rate, not 100%… someone has to be that one percent. Furthermore, having to explain to a four year old about how the baby she is so eager to meet and love on is going to be delicate and won’t come home for a few weeks really sucks. She can tell you that his “tubes” are switched and that he’ll be in hospital for a while. She has also expressed her fear that the doctors won’t do “their very best job” during the surgery and they’ll mess up. She’s worried about being away from me for that period of time because I’ll be in Atlanta while she and David are at home and she’s never been away from me more than the length of a work day. She’s four. She shouldn’t be worrying about these things. And honestly, while I have my moments of fear for the baby, what really gets me and makes me cry is Lauren. How caring she is, how sensitive she is, and how I am going to miss her so desperately while I am in hospital with her brother. Obviously I’m going to want and need as much support as possible while he’s in recovery (I mean, I will have JUST pushed out a human) and, at this moment, because of Covid, I won’t even get to have my husband and child with me, except for the times David gets to visit for a few hours. It hurts thinking about it. It’s stressful thinking of what to take to the hospital for a regular birth, let alone planning for weeks in the hospital hours away from your home and family.
Other than the heart defect, he’s growing as he should be and everything else looks normal. In fact, it looks like the VSD is actually closing up, so by time he’s born, it might be completely gone. After surgery, he’ll go on to be perfectly normal, able to do anything any other child can do. Once his heart is fixed, it should be the end of surgeries and he’ll just have to visit the cardiologist yearly for checkups.
Also, I feel I should add that this is a severely underdiagnosed heart condition. Most people don't find out about it until the baby comes out blue or a week or so later when the baby is suddenly struggling to breathe. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to know ahead of time. We get to plan. We get to know that as soon as he is out, he will be in the hands of the NICU team and the cardiologist will be ready to examine him. We don't have to experience the dread of finding our week old baby blue and struggling to breathe, or worse, already gone. We have knowledge and a great team that is monitoring him closely (believe me, I'm tired of the appointments!). So, we're thankful.
Anyway, I just thought I’d share that little tidbit. We are fine and we will be fine. We’re just ready to meet him and to be past the surgery and time in hospital, to be home enjoying life as a family of four.
Organizer and beneficiary
Phyllis Williams Borden
Organizer
Perry, GA
Katie Vancura
Beneficiary