Prayers and Support for Baby Makenna

Please join me in supporting Dusty and Jenni during this incredibly hard time. With Makenna in OHSU NICU, they have countless trips to Portland and unforeseen expenses in their future. Together we can support them in this small way.

Please also joins us in praying for healing for sweet Makenna

Makenna’s Story:

Makenna Lee Nehl

11/19/24

Makenna Lee Nehl was born Tuesday 11/19/24 at 1202 am 7 pounds 7 ounces 19 3/4 inches long. Just a perfect beautiful baby girl. Born to Jenni and Dustin Nehl.

It was a perfect natural birth, no medication. Makenna had a little fluid in her lungs and needed a little help with that but it was never something we thought would set in motion the hardest days of our lives.

The doctors decided some oxygen and antibiotics would help as the fluid seemed to be in her lungs like a pneumonia. She had a small fever by 16 hours old so they decided to transfer her by ambulance to the Salem NICU where she became critically ill.

The next day they called for life flight and a ground team made it faster to take her to OHSU NICU where they found her stomach had been perforated while they were trying to help her breath before she arrived at OHSU. At just 36 hours old she went into major surgery to repair her tummy. Her damage due to this perforation caused her little body’s lactic acid levels to grow to over 15, which we were told is enough to kill an adult. She is a tough and strong baby and her heart or lungs never gave out despite all her body is going through. While post -op she started hemorrhaging in her brain and she is on life support still today. Countless scans and MRIs show massive bleeding in her brain that we are told she will likely never recover fully from however some movement is coming back and it gives us hope in this dark time.

We had her baby blessing in the chapel at OHSU yesterday and are asking for prayers for Makenna to make a miraculous recovery.

We need prayer as we are facing decisions that no parent should have to make.

This was described to us as a “freak and tragic accident”. There just seems no way the fluid in her lungs could cause so much damage, but the stomach being perforated was just too much for her little body to recover from.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.