Let's help Carly with Rio's medical bills.

Our sweet Carly has been through quite a lot in the past several months due to Baby Rio's numerous unplanned hospital adventures...

I wanted to ask you all for a little bit of assistance with helping Carly and her little family.

It’s been 5 months since Armando and Carly welcomed their brown eyed baby boy, Rio, but it hasn’t been without complications. After an emergency c section- baby Rio was born struggling to breathe. He was immediately taken to the NICU where they saw that his nasal passages were anatomically too small to inhale sufficient oxygen and blow off Co2. Once he was able to mouth feed- he was considered safe to go home and was discharged after 6 days.

Once he was home, Rio still struggled breathing which made feedings uncomfortable. He was restless even when sleeping and would gasp for air and turn purple at the slightest upset. Trusting her mommy gut, Carly took him in for a second ENT opinion 10 days after being discharged from the NICU. Rio stopped breathing at the appointment and was immediately admitted to pediatric intensive care where they ran tests, did scans and monitored his improvement for another 6 days. He was released from the PICU with an OG tube and oximeter to monitor his stats. Oxygen didn’t help because of the obstruction in his airway. He was given steroid drops to help keep any swelling down since he was born with the plan to ween him off once he “grew out of it”.

The steroid drops have caused adrenal suppression mimicking an adrenal function disorder. Rio was making small improvements in his breathing and eating abilities with the steroids but the adrenal suppression caused his growing to stall and he completely fell off the standard growth chart for height and weight. To help, it was decided to start weening him off the steroids to see if he could breathe without them and start catching up in growth. But without the steroids, he couldn’t breathe well and couldn’t eat from a bottle comfortably and he started losing weight. Overnight he went from ok to not ok and relapsed last Thursday morning gasping for air. His check up appointment was conveniently scheduled that morning where it was decided he needed surgery as soon as possible. He was admitted back to the PICU and had nasal dilation surgery and stints placed through through his sinuses to keep it open as he healed. He was intubated and fully sedated and being fed through an OG tube for three days. He was released from the hospital 7 days after his third admission and is on the long road to recovery.

The surgery went as good as they could have hoped but he is back on the steroids to help with swelling as he heals. They are hopeful the adrenal suppression will correct itself once completely off the steroids, but the bigger concern is his ability to breathe. He needs continued monitoring and follow up appointments from multiple pediatric specialists.

As you can probably imagine, the hospital bills are starting to add up. And Carly and Armando have had to miss weeks of work to care for him. They are also in the process of moving from Idaho back to Utah.

Any bit you can spare to help ease the financial burden of this little family's medical debt is appreciated beyond measure.