Noah and the Rowe Family

Many of you probably have been following along as we have been posting about our son, Noah, on Caring Bridge. On May 9th I delievered 3 weeks early because of placental abruption, leading to a STAT C-Section. Our son Noah suffered from HIE (brain damage from lack of oxygen) as a result, but later that day we discovered that he had a much more serious and life threatening heart condition, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He was born with half a heart and was airlifted to Children's Hospital Colorado for a life-saving cath procedure on his birthday. Noah barely made it, he was very close to death. Miraculously and by the grace of God Noah survived that day, but that was only the beginning of his journey.

In order to survive, Noah needed a series of 3 open heart surgeries: the Norwood, Glenn, and Fontan. The Norwood needed to happen within 10 days of birth and we were incredibly blessed to have him receive that surgery on May 17th at 8 days old. This was an incredibly dangerous and complex surgery that essentially allowed his only heart ventricle to pump blood to his body and lungs instead of just his lungs. His next surgeries will help take some of the pressure off of that ventricle and will continue to re-plumb his heart so that half of his heart can attempt to do the job of a full heart throughout his life.

Noah spent 7 weeks in the hospital and endured so much. He finally came home on May 27th, only to be readmitted on May 29th with another blood infection and bloody stool. This stage in between the Norwood and the Glenn surgeries is called "Interstage" and it is the most risky and complex stage for these kiddos if they survive their first surgery. We are praising God that Noah survived and that God has sustained him this far, but it is sinking in that it will be a grueling road to make it to the Glenn. Ideally, Noah would be at least 4 months old and 11 lbs before he has the Glenn, so we are hoping for late September.

In order to make it to the Glenn, Peter and I have realized that he can no longer sustain a full -time job while balancing hospitalizations, our 20 month old and our 3 year old (Evelyn and Kate), and managing Noah's care in or out of the hospital. He will most likely be in the hospital for the next 6 weeks or so, but regardless of where he is our family is stretched to the breaking point. Simultaneously, we have been living under immense stress since we learned about this diagnosis on Noah's birth day and have been in survival-mode ever since.

We asked for help in those early days of Noah's life to help cover the costs of his medical bills and life in the hospital. We were blown away by the generosity of our church, our friends and family, and even strangers. We saw the Lord's faithfulness in the most tangible way through each person who gave to us financially as well as the prayer warriors across the world who have faithfully been lifting Noah and our family up in prayer. Because of everyone's generosity we have set up a fund that will help to cover the costs of Noah's abulance and helicopter rides, his hospitalizations, monthly medications, etc. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to relieve that burden.

Now, we were faced again with trusting the Lord to provide for our family as neither of us are able to work during the next 2 months as we navigate this grueling season with Noah. This fundraiser aims to cover our monthly expenses such as our mortgage, insurance payments, food, utlilties, gas, student loans, etc., as we step away from work to focus on caring for Kate, Evie, and especially Noah.

God has been so good. We are in the thick of this storm. Noah is suffering, there is no doubt about that. Our family dynamics have shifted in the most drastic ways we could imagine, but we are trusting the Lord to see us through.