Sawyer Needs Our Help

We first heard about Sawyer's family when we answered a response on facebook looking for local people to help with a Make-A-Wish sponsored room remodel. We immediately jumped at the opportunity, after the amazing experience working with Make-A-Wish on a past project. After meeting with the family and caretaker, we realized that while Make-A-Wish was providing an amazing room remodel for Sawyer and his family, not all of their needs were being met. A huge need was for the bathroom to also be remodeled to make the bathroom and shower handicap accessible to make his daily bathings significantly easier. That is where you come in. We would love, in addition to the room remodel that is being provided, to gift them the bathroom remodel that would make a huge impact in their daily care of Sawyer, easier. Sawyer's story is below, let's bless this sweet boy and his family above what they could even imagine.

After a term pregnancy and relatively uneventful labor; Sawyer A John’s was born unresponsive in Andalusia Al on 6/24/2017. Doctors successfully resuscitated Sawyer and believed him unscathed for several hours until he began showing signs of seizures. He was transferred to a Montgomery Al, NICU for specialized care for three weeks, then released home with a good prognosis.However, he failed to meet many milestones over the next year.

In Feb 2019 Sawyer went to live with his Grandparents and permanent foster/guardians, Kye and Selena Keenam. Here, he finally began to thrive. Sawyer could roll, sit up on his own, and was learning to crawl and finally meeting milestones despite dozens of seizures daily.

Sadly, in Jan 2022 after a respiratory infection, Sawyer coughed until he vomited, resulting in a freak volvulus of the small intestine. Doctors at CHOA prepared Sawyer’s family for the worst, listing all the reasons he could not survive, hospital chaplains were sent in to comfort them during the first of many surgeries. After several months and several surgeries Sawyer came home with an ileostomy; missing nearly all his small intestine, a central line to his heart that carried all his nutrition as his GI tract could no longer absorb nutrients or medications, AND a casted left leg. One of the side effects of malabsorption is osteoporosis. To date he’s broken both femurs, a humerus and has several compression fractures.

Despite ALL THIS, Sawyer again began to thrive. In April 2023, the remaining 7-8” of Sawyer’s small intestine was surgically reattached to the large and his ileostomy was closed.

Sawyer’s PawPaw Kye was transferred to Navarre just after surgery. Sawyer decided to stay in the hospital until everyone was moved down and settled in. He and Granny joined us all in June.

Sawyer is a happy baby trapped in the body of a growing, big, strong 7year old boy. But big boys need big boy toys. Big beds to sleep in, big lifts to pick him up, big standers to help strengthen his bones, big vans to take him to his many MD visits, big showers to bathe him in, big doors and walls to get him through and around. It’s a big list with a big price tag. And a big commitment.

Sawyer’s life is hard and his road is long. But he is so worth it. He radiates beauty and peace. His smile brightens a life, not just a moment. He gives so much more than he receives and does so innocently with no want for gain. His smile is pure joy, a brief glimpse into Heaven.