Elijah Cole Feller- Medical Bills

Cole & Stefanie Feller, and big sisters Ellie & Posey, welcomed Elijah Cole Feller into the world on September 24, 2020.

Leading up to his birth, Cole & Stefanie knew Elijah would need to come early, but also had to decide whether or not to have him delivered in their home hospital in Fredericksburg, or plan to go to San Antonio if anything were to need more serious assistance, as Stefanie is a Type 1 Diabetic, and was experiencing some concerning health issues, not to mention that baby boy's estimated weight was quite large!

Elijah was born at Methodist Children’s Hospital in San Antonio at a whopping 10lbs 4 oz. (Poor Stefanie), but at 36 weeks 6 days he was in fact a preemie, and unfortunately his lungs weren’t quite developed. He also had worrisome numbers regarding his white blood cell count and low blood sugar. The Fellers remain very thankful for trusting their instinct and choosing the children's hospital for delivery.

After lab work and genetic testing, the medical team discovered that Elijah had a rare condition known as Severe Congenital Neutropenia. This was possibly caused at some point during pregnancy when Stefanie's antibodies crossed the placenta and fought Elijah's neutropenia, causing the low counts. The way forward would be daily injections to boost his white blood cell count, bone marrow transfusions, as well as monthly checkups in San Antonio.

While Cole has continued to be an extremely hard worker, allowing Stefanie to stay home with Elijah, the medical bills continue to arrive.

On the outside Elijah appears to be a super healthy boy, which he overall is, but if this sweet boy were to have a temperature over 101, the Fellers are advised to take him to the ER at Methodist Children’s, which is where they were this past weekend, and have found themselves once before in the past year, after Elijah's initial two week stay after birth.

They are back home now after some monitoring and antibiotics, thank God. Back in March though, their visit to the ER (due to a fever) ended up being a two week stay after discovering a growth in Elijah's throat, which called for immediate surgery.

You see, having Severe Congenital Neutropenia means that Elijah’s body needs help fighting off any kind of bacterial infection. Among some more common bacteria infections are Strep Throat, Urinary Tract Infection, Food Poisoning, etc.. The worst case scenario is that Elijah could develop leukemia, although with such a close eye on his well-being and taking preventative measures, that is unlikely.

Let me tell you about this precious human: Elijah’s smile is the most adorable one has ever seen, is infectious and constant! He waves and blows kisses, and this past 11th month of his, he has practiced walking and succeeded! A few of his words are “Dada,” “Mama,” “Na-Na” (banana? Nana?), and "Hi." He is 99% of the time a happy camper; loves his avocados and salmon like Mama, and loves getting into his sisters things!

We humbly ask that you help lift the burden of medical bills for Elijah’s dedicated, beautiful Mama, and his unwavering, hard workin’ Daddy!

Elijah Cole turns ONE this Friday, and we would love to present his parents with the total of their family & friends' s donations at this special occasion! But please continue to give even if it's after this Friday.

Thank you all! Anything helps!

Much Love,

Carrie Watson (friend)

with the help of Stefanie's sisters