For Baby Harper

Easter Sunday started off as a fun day for the Caldwell family. Lincoln, their 2-year old, getting to do an egg hunt, playing on the swings with daddy, begging for more treats from mommy... and Harper, their 2-month old, looking so pretty in her dress and her prettiest flower bow. Harper had been feeling a little under the weather for a few days, but nothing that seemed out of the ordinary for a tiny babe. However, during naptime, Stephen and Torrey noticed that her breathing started to get shallow and she seemed to have a hard time catching her breath.

They took her to an Urgent Care in Helena to have her checked out, and within minutes of the doctor taking her oxygen levels, he immediately called an ambulance to have Harper transported to St. Peter's hospital in Helena. Once there, the doctors on-call immediately ordered a life-flight for Harper to have her sent to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Spokane, WA due to respiratory failure. They flew in a pediatric specialist team to Helena to fly with Harper to ensure the best care for her throughout the flight. Torrey flew with her while Stephen drove the 5 hours to meet his girls there. Lincoln had to stay home in Helena with his Grandma and Papa.

Once in Spokane, the medical staff of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) came to the conclusion that little Harper was indeed in very rough shape and she was diagnosed with RSV, Corona Virus, pneumonia and the flu virus. She had been intubated in Helena and once in WA, was then put on basically a complete life support system to help her little body breathe. She is hooked up to a breathing tube, feeding tube, 3 different sedatives, antibiotics, around the clock breathing treatments, as well as around the clock care from the PICU nurses and doctors.  Even though she is in amazing hands and surrounded by love and prayers from family and friends, it is still going to take extensive care and rehabilitation to bring Harper (aka the "beast") back to complete health.

The doctors have not been able to give Stephen and Torrey any sort of possible timeline as to how long it will take to get Harper better. They have stated that the best-case scenario is that she will be here at least a week longer, if not two. At this point though, it's looking like it could be up to 3 weeks. Torrey, who works at Little Angels Daycare in Helena, will have to be completely out of work for that unknown amount of time while she stays with Harper, plus the time it will take at home to get her to full health, and Stephen will have to be traveling back and forth between Spokane and Helena as much as possible to try and squeeze in as much work as he can, as well as hang out with Lincoln as often as he can and bring him some comfort. Lincoln is not allowed in the PICU, so therefore he has to stay in Helena with family. They are trying to keep in as much contact with him as they can through FaceTime and phone calls, but it's been really hard for all of them.

With Harper's vitals being up and down since she arrived, and with no definitive timeline in place as to when she will be released to come home, all Stephen and Torrey know for sure is that they are in for a long haul getting Harper better and are having to be away from home, from each other and from Lincoln way longer than any family should have to be. 

I am am setting up this account for them because just with the life-flight and time spent in PICU alone, the unexpected expenses that Stephen and Torrey are coming up against  - hotel stay for who knows how long, gas from going back and forth from WA to MT, food, medical bills, etc. - are starting to really add up. Not to mention their regular bills at home... And them not being able to work for the foreseeable future doesn't help either. I wanted to be able to do something for them as they help little Harper fight her way back to feeling better. 

I'm really hoping that you can help me help them! It's really hard for them to ask for this kind of help, and I completely understand that, but this is such a scary, fluid situation for them with a lot of unknowns and I know that so many of us are wanting to do something for them. Right now, donating anything at all would help them tremendously. 

Stephen and Torrey want to thank you so, so very much for any help you can give them, as well as let you know that they are so appreciative for the thoughts and prayers as well. We will keep you updated on Harper's status.

Thank you so much!