Greyson's Journey

As many of you know, on August 29th my grandson, Greyson Jeffery Templeton, was born with congestive heart failure. Unfortunately we had no idea of his condition prior to his birth and he was emergently airlifted from Burlington to Boston Children's where he was later diagnosed with Neonatal Marfan Syndrome. He spent his first month of life in the Cardiovascular Unit and has since been hospitalized multiple times. His latest stay began December 27th when he was rushed by critical care transport to Boston Children's for severe respiratory distress as a result of his heart failing. On January 4th, Greyson underwent his first open heart surgery to repair two leaky valves. Unfortunately one of the repairs failed and on January 17th he had his second open heart surgery to replace that valve. Since January he has also struggled with respiratory issues which have kept him in the CICU longer than expected. We recently had a brief glimmer of hope that Greyson and his mom & dad would be coming home soon, however last week Greyson had a sudden, unexpected event that caused him to go back into respiratory distress and have decreased function in his heart. This unfortunate setback will be extending his stay for an unknown period of time.

At a little over six months old, Greyson has now spent more than three and a half months of his life at Boston Children's. Chelsea & Jon are amazing parents and have been with Greyson during these long stays with Jon only going back to Vermont briefly to work when needed. When in Boston only one parent is able to stay overnight with Greyson so this has meant months of incurring hotel costs, eating out, and additional costs that weren't planned. While there are programs available that will help with some of the costs, it won't come close to covering all of it nor do they reimburse for any of the costs until Greyson is out of the hospital.

Both of Greyson's parents (Chelsea Harris and Jonathon Templeton) are too proud to ask for help and never would themselves but as Chelsea's mom and in response to many friends and family members asking what they can do to help, this seemed to be the best way.

As always, we appreciate all the love and prayers that have been sent during such a difficult time!! Please keep the prayers and positive thoughts coming for this sweet little guy! He is so incredibly strong and he continues to amaze us all!