Supporting the Vanessa & James Blue Family

In early September 2023, Brooks Atlas Blue was born 5 weeks early via emergency c section after his mom, Vanessa, had a placental abruption following a car accident. Brooks was initially taken to the NICU for low blood sugar and otherwise seemed healthy, but rapidly declined during his first week of life.

At one week old, Brooks was airlifted to Children’s Hospital Colorado and hours later went into cardiac arrest receiving 45 minutes of chest compressions while doctors scrambled to get him onto ecmo (life support). He was diagnosed with enterovirus (the common cold) which traveled all the way to Brooks heart and caused viral myocarditis, multi system organ failure, and sepsis. Brooks spent almost three weeks on ecmo with the hopes his heart would recover, but his heart did not show sufficient recovery and it was determined he would need a heart transplant.

At one month old, Brooks had his first open heart surgery to transition him to an lvad (left ventricular assist device) which would help the left side of his heart beat while waiting for a heart transplant. The week following lvad surgery was a disaster. Brooks had emergency open heart surgery to put him on rvad (right ventricular assist device) after his heart went into a lethal rhythm. He also had a stroke, seizure, and pulmonary hemorrhage. At this point doctors told his parents to say their goodbyes and to transition away from medical intervention, but James and Vanessa were not willing to give up fighting.

Over the next couple months, Brooks slowly started to improve. He had another open heart surgery to remove his RVAD, they were able to close Brooks chest which had been open for 2 weeks due to the number of open heart surgeries and extreme edema, his lungs improved (at one point both lungs were completely collapsed) and he was able to come off all respiratory support, and he was slowly weaned from narcotics and paralytics.

Today, Brooks is 6 months old, stable on his LVAD, and has been in the hospital for the entirety of his life waiting for a heart transplant. Doctors call him a miracle baby. He is growing and developing like a normal 6 month old despite his stroke and cardiac arrest. Funds raised will be used towards expenses related to Brooks lengthy hospital stay.