Support the Stewart family & their Baby Boy's health journey

The Stewart family has been blessed with a baby boy due in mid June 2024. While they are overjoyed at the blessing God has given them, they could use your help.

Kristin and Joe married in early 2021 and about a year later decided to grow their family. Unfortunately, this was a much longer and harder journey than they had planned. They went through an emotionally challenging period of infertility. After nearly 2 years, many doctor visits, and countless prayers, they conceived their first child in September 2023. They were unbelievably excited and eagerly started laying out plans for their amazing blessing due in June 2024.

They were so excited to find out the gender at their 20 week ultrasound in February, but instead, they received the heartbreaking news that their baby had a condition called “spina bifida.” This condition causes the baby’s spine to form incorrectly and puts the baby in line for some major challenges.

Follow up tests showed the baby’s spine was open around the L3 vertebrae. This means he will likely have no feeling in his legs below his knees and possibly below his hips. He will also face issues with going to the bathroom, crawling and tackling some of the normal developmental steps seen in a baby’s development. Along with the spine problems, he will likely face problems in his brain. Babies with spina bifida frequently experience swelling in their brains that requires surgery to implant a shunt. This shunt then drains the excess fluid from the brain into the stomach cavity.

What does this all mean? Sadly, the baby boy will need immediate surgery the day after he is born to close and protect his spine. This will not restore any lost function, but will hopefully protect the open end of the spine from further damage. He will likely face a second surgery to implant a shunt to relieve any brain swelling. There might be a third surgery to fix problems in his throat if that has been impacted. He will be in the NICU for at least 2 weeks while the doctors monitor his surgeries.

Apart from the physical challenges like walking or going to the bathroom, spina bifida also has links with learning disabilities. Children with this diagnosis often have a hard time focusing or planning for the future, leading to challenges in school.

In order to fully support this little boy, Kristin and her husband Joe have decided that Kristin would take a year off of teaching elementary school and focus on the new baby. He is going to need a lot of support and care and many trips up to the hospital for follow ups.

The new parents could use your help as Kristin takes the upcoming year off of work. Any money donated would be used to support the baby's ongoing treatment at Cincinnati Children’s along with things like walking/crawling aids, casts for his back/legs, physical therapy to help him learn to move as best he can, and other general baby needs.

Kristin and Joe understand that times can be rough and if you cannot donate at this time, please pray for the new family. They know that despite these challenges, God will stay with them through the struggle. Thank you again for listening to their story and for any aid you can give.