Support Baby Luke’s Preemie Battle

My sister-in-law, Clair Rogers, went into preterm labor yesterday and delivered a beautiful baby boy, Luke, at only 26 weeks and 2 days by emergency c-section. She was already at 6 cm dilated when she and my brother reached the hospital. However, our hospital doesn’t have a NICU, so doctors were calling everywhere (Tulsa, Dallas, OKC, etc.) to find a safe place for Luke to go after delivery. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, nowhere could send a helicopter to get him, and it would take 3+ hours one way via ambulance. Luckily, they got in touch with BSA out of Amarillo, and they were able to send an airplane with a NICU team here to retrieve Luke and take him there as they specialize in micropreemies.

Luke was born at 11:01 last night on April Fools' Day. His lungs were sticking, so they had to give him surfactant to help. His O2 sats were in the 60s, but by the end of the night, they had reached the high 80s with his heart rate staying in the 130s-140s. As of this morning, he’s still critical because of his age, but his vitals were stable. He did have to receive a blood transfusion, though. His parents are staying in contact with doctors and are able to see Luke through a live feed.

Clair is still in the hospital here in Altus, but as soon as she gets released, they’ll be heading the 2+ hours to Amarillo to be with their sweet boy as he continues fighting this battle. Unfortunately, the hospital in Amarillo doesn’t have long-term stay for parents, so they will need to get a hotel or rent an Airbnb the whole time they’re over there. The cost of somewhere to stay along with medical bills like the life flight and c-section, gas there and back, and household bills, is going to be challenging for them. They also have a 5-year-old son named Lane who’s very excited to have a little brother.

If any of you can donate anything at all, my family would greatly appreciate it. And if you can’t, even just sharing this link and getting the word out would help immensely. Thank you all in advance. ♥️

Update 4/4/25: Baby Luke is still fighting hard! Unfortunately, he does have a bilateral brain bleed. Here’s a text I received from my brother; “There is 4 stages of brain bleeds, 4 being the worse, Luke has suffered a stage 3 brain bleed on one side of his brain and a stage 4 brain bleed on the other side, both sides of his brain has bled. The Dr. also said that he has noticed some very small necrosis (death of the brain) on one of the sides of his brain, we have about a 35% chance of him developing cerebral palsy, that being the worst possible outcome, the best possible outcome is A.D.D. caused by the brain bleed. Either way he will have some form of defect. The next 3 days are most crucial to his survival just because of his age, jaundice, brain bleed, anemic, and him being very acidic when he came out. The Dr. assured us after the 3 days he should be getting better and better.”

It’s a possibility they may have to send him to level 4 NICU to treat the brain bleeds with drains in his skull. He is receiving another blood transfusion meaning he’s lost some.

We want to thank those of you who have shared Luke’s story and have supported my brother and sister in law with your generous donations during this time. It means the world.