Help For Baby Elijah

Alysha R is organizing this fundraiser.

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My name is Alysha and this is my son, Elijah.

Weeks after his birth He was diagnosed

with a congenital defect called

Hirschsprung's Disease.

At 1 month, he underwent surgery to

remove a portion of his

colon. After which he was forced to

wear a colostomy bag...

During the next 3 months he struggled to gain weight and was

hospitalized again to determine why.

The doctors figured out he needed

more sodium which seemed to really

help him gain weight. At 4 months He was still small, but finally moving in the right direction with his weight. His dad and I were happy because he was thriving.

For the next 6 months we had no

issues...

Doctor reports were great.
Now 10 months old, He was

scheduled to have his final corrective

surgery right after his 1st bday.

His dad and I were filled with hope that our little boy would be ok...

The problems seemed to restart when the baby formula shortage began.

Due to early medical issues, I wasn't able to breastfeed him, which meant we had to depend on baby formula.

The formula we found for him was
organic and pure, it was also expensive but the best.

He drank this formula for 9 months before the shortage began...

Suddenly, the food which had
sustained him throughout his entire life was no where to be found.

After an exhaustive search, We were forced to settle for the best we could find... (a lesser quality brand than he'd become accustomed to).

On June 1st he became suddenly

ill (vomiting, diarrhea and a fever).

I took him to emergency and he was

admitted for a colon infection... But the

doctors didn't know what caused it.

After 5 days he was discharged with a prescription for antibiotics and I

thought we were ok...

I took him to his follow-up

appointment on June 10th and got all great reports.

On June 20th, the symptoms that surfaced 19 days before, suddenly returned... (vomiting and diarrhea).

He was still drinking his bottle and had no fever however, so I watched him

closely, checking his temperature

every 2 hours...

Around 10:30 that night, I checked his

temperature and saw it had risen to

100*

I immediately packed him up and took off to the ER.

As I reached the check-in desk of the

ER he just... stopped breathing...

They immediately took him to the

trauma unit to administer CPR.

But His heart stopped for 25 minutes

before they could get a pulse...

Minutes later his heart stopped for

another 10 minutes before ER workers

could bring him back...

Within minutes his heart stopped again for another 8 minutes before they

could stabilize him...

Elijah was without a pulse for over 40 minutes...

He was placed on a respirator and we were told the next 48-72 hours were

critical.

After 3 days We were given the worst news I've ever received in my

life!

The worst moment imaginable... The

doctors told us he sustained

diffuse brain hypoxia, meaning... His brain was severely damaged due to lack of oxygen during the 43 min he was without a heartbeat.

Damage the doctors are saying is irreversible...

To current date, our son no longer laughs, smiles, talks, crys, eats, waves bye bye or anything of the things he could do 10 days ago.

Every specialist we've spoken

with has said the same thing...

That he will most likely never do any of those things again...

The doctors in the ICU told us they

would continue all efforts to sustain his

body but that he would never return to being how he was...our baby.

His dad and I have been basically living in the hospital with him the last 10 days...

We've been praying hard and searching for some kind of remedy that'll repair our son's brain and bring him back to us.

We don't know how much longer our son is going to survive, but we are

remaining hopeful for a miracle...

This is in the face of doctors telling us he could and probably will slip away any day...

To make matters even worse, one month before this all began my son lost medical insurance.

We were in the process of getting things worked out when this all happened, but the medical bills have piled high...

They are currently over $300,000.

We're asking for help in the form of

$350,000 to help with medical expenses and to have money available to acquire the best treatment we can find for him.

We know what the doctors are saying but, we can't just give up on our son...

If you've read this far down, please give your best,

It will be deeply appreciated.

If you know of any promising treatments that can replenish our son's brain function, please reach out to us at [email redacted]

God Bless