Support Costs for Cam's 2nd Open Heart Surgery

As many of you know, Cameron (age 6) had open heart surgery on May 22nd, 2023. Cameron underwent a mitral valve repair and a myectomy to remove the excess muscle that was growing in his heart. Before surgery, Cameron had a 90% obstruction of the outflow tract (meaning 95% of the time the blood hesitated to leave his heart and many times regurgitated back into the left ventricle. Removing the excess muscle allowed Cam's blood to freely exit the heart. Until it caused another problem.

At week 2 post-op, Cam’s cardiologist discovered that his blood now leaving the heart is doing so at such a force that it’s caused the aortic valve to leak severely. Given Cam’s heart condition, the cardiac team at BCH cannot let him go on too long with a severely leaking aortic valve and must bring him back in for another open-heart surgery.

On 7/31, Cameron will have his second open heart surgery in less than 3 months, this time with a plan to repair (but likely replace) his aortic valve with his pulmonary valve, then replace his pulmonary valve with a graft (known as the Ross Procedure).

This second surgery was completely unexpected and unplanned. Katie started her new job on April 3rd and had to take 2 weeks off for Cameron’s first surgery. Once that occurred, it reset the clock for the 90 days worked to be able to access benefits (such as PTO, excused unpaid time off, etc).

Cameron’s upcoming surgery on 7/31 is expected to be more intensive and will require a longer recovery time than the first leaving Katie unable to work. She will be without pay for at least a few weeks. Due to her having a new job and is not eligible for FMLA, PFML or any other job protection. It is not known if she will be allowed to keep her job.

This is such a trying time for Katie and the kids as they navigate getting Cam through another OHS and trying to keep the other two kids’ lives as normal and routine as can be. This surgery is expected to be more complicated and with a longer recovery, as Cam is still in healing mode from surgery #1 and not as strong as he was going into the first surgery.

Many of you are asking how you can help during these next several weeks. As you also know, there is no skilled/professional care for Joey after school and he can’t be left with anyone other than his mother, father, or grandmothers.

Any funds donated here will be used by Katie to help with the following:

-Meals and necessities for Katie and the kids during Cam's hospital stay and while she’s out of work

-Pay/hire trained therapists from Joey’s school to babysit if needed, in the event of an emergency and Katie cannot leave the hospital.

-Travel expenses/daily parking to and from the hospital

-Outpatient speech and occupational therapy copays post-op to catch him back up before school starts

-Any costs (usually prescriptions) not covered by the insurance

-Anything left over will be saved for Cameron’s journey ahead (which will be full of appointments and possibly more cardiac surgeries) and/or to treat him to some fun events once he’s on the mend since his entire summer was heart surgeries and recovering from heart surgeries.

His “big dream” is to see Stephen Sharer live!