Baby Sierra's Recovery
Donation protected
Kelton and Sara Critteden met at BYU-Idaho. They have been together for 5 years and recently celebrated their 2 year wedding anniversary. In January 2021 they were ecstatic to find out out they were pregnant with their first child. Weeks later they were crushed when that pregnancy ended in miscarriage. A few months later in June they found out they were expecting their rainbow baby! Sara was seen at Madison Women's Clinic. 22 weeks into pregnancy they discovered the baby's heart anatomy was abnormal and were sent to a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor in Idaho Falls. There the doctors suspected the baby had Hypoplastic Left Heart Sydnrome (HLHS). Kelton and Sara were referred to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City the next day for an official diagnosis and to meet with a cardiologist. They traveled from Idaho to Utah monthly from that point on and temporarily left their jobs to relocate to Utah.
On February 17th their baby girl Sierra was born at the University of Utah Hospital. She was transported to Primary Children's Hospital by the life flight team and has been in the CICU ever since. She has been a happy baby from the beginning but will give you the side eye if you do something she doesn't like. Sierra had her first surgery for HLHS at only 5 days old. Kelton and Sara planned to return home to Idaho one month later but Sierra's tricuspid valve started leaking. Unfortunately, her valve was unable to be repaired and she was placed on heart transplant list on April 11th.
Sierra has never left the hospital and has a long journey of healing ahead. Even with everything going on she gives everyone lots of smiles and keeps fighting. She will receive support from a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) until she receives a heart transplant. When she receives the transplant she will continue to stay in the hospital for another month afterwards. The Crittenden family will need to be within an hour of Salt Lake City for 4-6 months after before they can return home to Idaho and be reunited with Kelton's son as well as their friends and family.
The funds raised will be to assist in the financial burden of the anticipated multiple heart surgeries, hospitalizations, medications and the costs of relocating to Utah, travel, lodging and other necessary expenses.
Organizer
Kelton Crittenden
Organizer
Rexburg, ID