Supporting Carter James and the Doherty Clan

Hey my name is Carter Doherty. You're probably wondering why is this incredibly adorable baby with that great head of hair modeling for medical equipment, well I am not modeling, yet at least anyways but boy do I have great hair. I was born on January 19th, at Midcoast Hospital in Brunswick, Maine I am the second child to my parents Bryan and Laura Doherty. They also have my big brother Luke. However due to complications at birth I was rushed to Barbra bush medical hospital NICU, they brought me to the hospital in the hummer of ambulances called “angel 1”. When I got to the new fancy hospital, I was told to just Chill out, my dad says what actually happened is they cooled my internal body temperature for 72 hours and sedated me to help reduce any inflammation that may have been caused at birth, you say tomato I say tom-ato. After I was done “chillin,” I have had 4 EEGS to monitor for suspected seizure activity, thank god none have been identified, I mean I like to dance but I want to do it on my terms. I have had my blood drawn for genetic testing, again all came back good, my mom keeps calling me her little monkey but I keep telling her genetics says I am human. I was on oxygen for the first week and a half of life, I have also had 2 MRI’s, the second one they said they found something, the big term for it is callosal dysgenesis. But for everyone else, who was like my mom and dad that said huh? It means that the tissue that connects the right side and left side of my brain is under developed. What that means for me, well we really won’t know until certain milestones specifically ones much later in childhood are reached or not. But how does it affect me right now you might ask, well it means that I tend to struggle eating, I hold my breath, and even worse I sometimes aspirate (swallow into my lungs.) But I was bound and determined to show everyone that I could eat from a bottle without issue. So that’s what I did, I went 14 days without having to use my feeding tube at all, to the point everyone was so excited they told me I could go home… But the night before I went to go home on 2/23, it was an exciting night, everyone was in a good mood, dad and my big brother kissed me good night, and headed out, while mom and I got some quiet time, I was really tired, I had been working so hard at feeding that I just couldn’t do it any more then something happened, when I came back to there were doctors all around, and they were helping me breath. The doctors told my parents I had what is called a laryngomalacia spasm and my airwaves closed to the point where my O2 dropped to 8, as well as my hear rate. The decision was made to prolong my discharge date until further notice and I was placed back on an NJ tube, (this is my forth tube, I had one that went to my esophagus, but it made me struggle to swallow and breathe, I had one that went to my stomach but I couldn’t bear the reflux and choked on that too, now they have me on a tube that bypasses all of that and goes directly to my intestines, thankfully that pesky reflux is gone, but I am still having issues with my secretions to the point where I have had a choking incident everyday since the 23rd of February. So my doctor told my parents they are kinda at a loss for what is causing the problems at hand, and have asked us to go Boston, so now we are just waiting on a bed for me there to get this whole ordeal figured out, once we have a solid plan from Boston, we will transfer back to Maine, and eventually go home. But right now I am just relaxing MY Dad keeps telling me players from Portland get called up to Boston all the time, I am just waiting for my turn to go to the big leagues.

Since being in Portland My dad has put over 3,000 miles on our car, in just over a month, bringing my brother Luke back to and from school occasionally, and to grab belongings from the house.

My family has had to eat out most meals, due to circumstances, and the situation wearing my parents out

We have to pay a small fee per day while in Portland for the accommodations so that my family has a place to sleep.

But when we get to Boston, the sleeping accommodations will most likely be 100$/day, and that’s not even including the 10$ a day just to bring the car to the hospital and park.

Along with my many many other medical expenses,.

My dad and mom don't like to accept help, even if they need it. But if you would like to donate to help me an my family get to the big leagues and then eventually come back home so I can tell you all about it, I know it would help them, and when they are not worried about everything they can just worry about what matters most and that’s me and my brother!