Help Henry’s Family with medical bills

Bailee Palmer is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hello friends and family, we decided to start a GoFundMe after receiving so many messages from you asking how you can help! Henry has a long story of what has gotten him to the point he is at now but I think it is time we share it. Henry has had his struggles since the day he was born. Upon coming into the world he was taken from our arms minutes after birth straight to the NICU. He spent four days in the NICU receiving specialized care for breathing, regulating his blood sugar, and just learning how to be in his own without machines. Even in the NICU at only one day old he started throwing up, and having tummy issues. He was born at exactly 37 weeks but our dating could be off, because he struggled so much he may have had a younger gestational age. Thus he was born weighing only six pounds, he has always been very small. When we got home he had to learn to nurse instead of bottle feeding after being in the NICU on NG tube + bottle and breast feeds. He has strictly been on breast milk his whole life but because he was born early he struggled learning to swallow/latch—everything. So going home feeding was always very important, as it is with all newborns but even more so because Henry needed to gain weight. Over the first month of his life he gained weight very slowly, always under what he should be—even though he was well fed. He would throw up constantly—little things would easily set him off such as moving too suddenly, someone talking to him, tummy time, sleeping on his back, and more! He started becoming visibly worse when he began screaming out in pain with an arched back, rigid arms and legs, slowly turning red then purple until I gave him back blows and suctioned his vomit out. It was terrifying and unpredictable with it happening during the day and middle of the night while he slept. He was put on reflux medicine at a month old after these episodes. He got thinner and thinner, and though he was eating enough and soiling the proper amount of diapers, he failed to gain weight properly as he began his second month of life. I started taking him in for weighted feeds and weight checks as he worsened. He would vomit constantly, cough on his vomit until his face turned purple, wheezing, and his stomach was always tight. Finally the last straw was his stool changing from normal to a very greasy/oily consistency, and my instincts as his mother told me this had gone far enough and I took him into his pediatrician. The pediatrician threw out many ideas including pyloric stenosis, cystic fibrosis, celiac, metabolic disorders and more and said he would need many tests and lab work done. He diagnosed Henry as ‘failure to thrive’ and got him admitted to the Children’s Hospital. Since being readmitted to the hospital he has undergone X-RAY studies, ultrasound, lab tests, and medication changes. He has been diagnosed with severe reflux/ GERD, after a GI X-ray study was performed which showed how he digested food and how much came back up through his esophagus—which was alot. That solved one of his issues, but they don’t think that is all that is causing Henry’s issues. His other symptoms point to metabolic disorders or cystic fibrosis, or perhaps an autoimmune disease that he inherited from me. Henry is getting enough food even though he vomits it up, he is having a problem absorbing the proper nutrients from the food he is given. Which is leading to him basically slowly starving himself. They are keeping him in Children’s until he has a sufficient weight gain, then we will be sent home awaiting test results and going to different hospitals to conduct more. Because of all of this NICU+Children’s stay our medical bills have gotten to a debilitating point. We stay with Henry while he is admitted and always have, resulting in us having to pay for our own food elsewhere as we are not patients. Medical bills, transportation, food prices for us while we are with him weigh very heavily on us. The best way people can help us is praying for answers for our sweet baby boy, and praying for healing and weight gain. Another way we need help is paying his medical bills. We have NICU bills which maxed out our $10,000 deductible last year (2022), and now we have this stay which we have learned has maxed out our deductible already for this year. If you are able and feel led any amount will benefit our family and helping us be able to just focus on getting our baby better. We love him more than anything and this has been our nightmare. Thank you for all of the support, this would be impossible without it.