Nico’s Rare Birth Defect

Hey y’all, the time is finally here. Nico is about to do the unthinkable and undergo his closure surgery for his rare birth defect called an Omphalocele. A Omphalocele is an opening in the abdominal wall where the abdominal organs grow outside of the body instead of inside. In Nico’s case, all of his abdominal organs except his kidneys were outside of his body. He was born with 3 VSD’s (Holes in heart) as well as pulmonary hypoplasia (underdeveloped lungs). He had an inguinal hernia that was repaired at 7 months old. He spent about 15 months doing weekly PT, OT, and feeding therapy for developmental delays. It’s been 2+ years not only having to worry about diapers and clothes like normal, but also having to worry about if he was going to make it to birth due to the severity of the situation and needing to use medical supplies to prevent infection, our little miracle! We are very fortunate enough to have the military to cover medical bills, but due to the severity of the situation only one military hospital can facilitate the care he needed at birth requiring us to live away from home and work for 2 months resulting in 3+ hours on the road everyday. At this time we are asking for your help to alleviate the costs of being away from home once again to culminate everything we have worked so hard for as a family, anything and everything helps to pay for new toys while in the PICU, food for our family as well as setting our family up for success as we come home to put this part of our lives past us once and for all!