The Johnsons and their newborn Asher Johnson

Asher Ladimer Arthur Johnson was born on January 8th, 2023 in Cranbrook, BC, Canada. The original due date for his expected arrival was March 12th, 2023.

He was born 8 weeks early at a weight of 1690 grams or 3.7 pounds. He was immediately placed on oxygen and a CPAP machine to help his little lungs get an early start. Due to the size of The Cranbrook regional hospital, he was quickly airlifted to the Vancouver Children's hospital. (For geographical references Cranbrook and Vancouver are 842 km apart or roughly a 10-hour drive with good driving conditions on the roads). While Asher was being taken care of in Vancouver back in Cranbrook, his mother was being monitored closely as she was recovering from Covid and had been diagnosed with severe preeclampsia during the lead-up to Asher's arrival. (if you would like to learn more about preeclampsia and all of the symptoms please Click here ) Due to preeclampsia and her bought with Covid-19, Asher's mother Taylor was unable to travel with him when he was sent to Vancouver.

The young family of 4 (Bryce, Taylor, 2-year-old Ava and Newborn Asher) was now spread all across the province of British Columbia and Bryce was taking care of a 2-year-old, while making sure his wife was in recovery from her severe symptoms of high blood pressure, kidney functions not working properly and her liver slowly returning to a normal functioning state and continued speaking with nurses in the Vancouver Children's hospital on the updates and wellbeing of newborn Asher.

After some very tense and stress-filled days, Taylor was discharged from the hospital on January 11th, and the main focus then shifted to how to bring the whole family together. The one wrinkle in this plan was the hospital planning happening in Vancouver. Although a great sign that Asher was getting stronger, this caused a logistical problem as the talks then shifted to moving Asher to Kelowna, British Columbia. Although this would be closer to Cranbrook, this caused some stress for the young family as they were trying to plan to drive and see their new son and brother.

Due to unfit travel conditions with the winter weather over the mountains between Vancouver and Kelowna, he had been prepared and then unable to travel on 4 straight days. The family made the long drive to Vancouver from Cranbrook on January 15th to be with Asher, all while knowing that he could be transferred at any time if the weather cooperated. They arrived safely in Vancouver to be with Asher on January 16th and were able to see his improving health and situation. Asher was transferred by airlift on January 17th to The Kelowna general hospital. This then left the family with a situation of finding accommodations to stay in Kelowna while being there with Asher.

Asher has been taken off the CPAP machine as his breathing has improved significantly, and is receiving donor breast milk intravenously. The family of 4 is all in Kelowna and will be now until Asher is strong enough to go home.

After a stressful beginning to the year and Asher's time on earth, the family is not out of the woods yet as the costs of accommodation, travel and inability to work all will add up in the time coming. All donations will go to help the family cover accommodation costs while being away from home, travel costs and any ot

her instances that may come up.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a healthy, blessed and amazing 2023!

PS: Updates will be added as more information is available.