Thomas C. S. Gorton & Family

Hello friends, family and community. Many of you know our youngest son, Thomas and have been following his incredible health journey thus far. Thomas was born with Hydrocephalus, Aortic Stenosis, a misplaced artery, SVT, and multiple holes in his heart. We were told at 20 weeks gestation that there was a good chance he would not be compatible with life outside of my womb. After genetic testing, a planned C-section and much love and care from his team of specialists, he arrived and we started to get some answers. Within his first weeks, he had a brain surgery and heart surgery that were very successful and came home after just over one month in the hospital. Around a year later Thomas was diagnosed with Epilepsy and we have been on the road of seizure management since then. Additionally if you know Thomas you know he is very small, he has not gained weight in the past year and is currently working with a team of specialists to find out why.

Just following Thomas’ second birthday mid October, he came down with yet another respiratory infection (he has had quite a few this year). This one was worse than we had seen in the past and after three days of high fever and two days of not eating, we brought Thomas to the ER.

He was admitted this afternoon with RSV and is now being treated.

Thomas struggles especially hard with “normal” illnesses because of his other health complexities, especially, in this case, his small size.

Over the course of the last couple of years, since finding out Thomas had many medical complications during my pregnancy, Tom and I have been working to carefully create a financial structure and plan for our family that can accommodate our unique needs and challenges.

In the past month we’ve had some major transition: I have been blessed to find a job that suits me very well working at the school of our eldest two children! Tom has taken on a new job working security for a local theater. Still, our combined income is not enough to meet our basic needs and we cannot afford childcare, let alone the highly attentive, medically informed care that Thomas would require if were to both be away from him at the same time for work.

Additionally, some of the transition is a bit more pressing. Our landlord let us know that he will be moving back into the home we currently rent and we have less than 60 days to move.

Tom and I have both missed a week of work caring for the children, we are behind on our rent and we are now working through the challenges of having Thomas hospitalized again as Tom is having to miss additional shifts this weekend.

I do not want our story to raise sympathy, only empathy as we are well aware that we are blessed beyond measure. We have three beautiful children, many miracles to be grateful for and a thriving community (you!) of people who have supported us with love, time, meals, financial means and more during these past few years. We never wait for “a day to come” when we can “give back”. We just do, reaching right back to support our community in turn, whether or not we have extra.

All of this is to say, we are not looking for sympathy but rather that you go inward, check-in with your heart and ask if you have anything to give.

We appreciate your love and support more than we can adequately express, but we will continue to try.

Thank you to all who remind us that this is temporary, we are strong, we are blessed and we have so much to give back.

What we are asking for at this time:

Financial support to assist us in preparation for finding secure housing and getting on our feet as we navigate Thomas’s most recent health challenges at the same time as moving to a new home and starting these new jobs.

Additionally, if you know of resources that we may not have tried, please do let us know! We’ve gone through all standard avenues of support (county programs, 211, hospital, etc and this that we are asking for is our additional need).

Thank you again, we will be there when you need us too

Charlotte, Tom & family

additonally:

Venmo: Mama-rose

Cashapp: $dearmamarose

PayPal: [email redacted]g