The McClanahan Family

Nicole, Dusty, and Tripp welcomed Elnora into their family on February 27th, 2023. Thankfully, Nicole and Dusty were prepared for what was in store for their family, because Elnora had been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect 22 weeks into pregnancy. Elnora has been a fighter since birth and had her first cardiac procedure at just 5 days old. After 19 days in the NICU, Elnora she was able to go home and spend time with her big brother. After a quick 5 months at home, Nory was back at Vanderbilt for her open heart surgery, which included an unexpected stent procedure. That stay was anything but smooth and after 25 long days, Nory was able to go back home again. It wasn’t long until little Nory got sick with Rhinovirus and her lungs became weak. She developed pneumonia, and Nicole and Dusty decided to transfer her care back to Vanderbilt after 5 nights in the Knoxville ICU. During that stay, like her past ones, Elnora hit several bumps in the road. After a week of rehabbing her lungs, she had another cardiac procedure. Thankfully this time Elnora healed quickly and after 21 days in Vandy’s ICU, she was back home again. Elnora spent just 4 days at home before she contracted adenovirus and RSV. Within 12 hours of diagnosis, Nory was intubated and on her way back to Vanderbilt’s cardiac ICU unit. After 4 days of intubation, her lungs failed to provide support to her body. She was placed on a form of life support called Venous ECMO in the early morning of November 16th. As of today, she is still on ECMO and her family has started to make arrangements to relocate to Nashville until mid February. Many friends and family members have asked how they could help during this transition and as the family finds a new normal with Nory living in the hospital for the foreseeable future. There are two ways they can help: As Nory approaches her 100th night in the hospital, with many more in sight, your donation would help with housing and meals for her family. Most importantly, Nory’s family asks for prayers and well wishes as they navigate their new normal and spend the holidays torn between home in Knoxville and the hospital in Nashville