Hope 4 Wyatt
Donation protected
Wyatt's story is only just now being written. His mother (Niki), twin sister (Fiona), and I (dad/Josh) are all hoping to rally support to help him fight for many more chapters to come.
Right now, Wyatt is happy and thriving with his sister Fiona in their mommy's tummy. Niki is 23 weeks pregnant as of July 3rd 2018. We just found out that Wyatt had a congenital trait (I am not calling it a defect because he is our perfect little boy) known as CDH: congenital diaphragmatic hernia. What that means is a portion of his diaphragm (muscle that separates the chest cavity from abdominal cavity) is missing, causing/allowing the small intestine, liver, and other organs to enter the chest cavity and press on his heart and lungs. This prevents 1 or both lungs from fully developing. This condition occurs in about 1:3000 births and is severly life threatening. Nationally, the survival rate for CDH babies is only around 50%. Frankly, Niki and I needed to find a way to improve Wyatt's odds.
We have chosen to take our fight to St. Petersburg, FL home of Dr. David Kays and Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. Dr. Kays is the nation's leading surgeon and advocate for CDH and his surgical outcomes are truly amazing (approximately 90% across his 20yr career). This is going to mean several flights, and ultimately a relocation for a minimum of 3 months. Not to mention Wyatt's surgery. We are fortunate to have an amazing support system, but this is going to be extremely taxing physically, emotionally, and financially. Your generous donation will go towards our travel and housing expenses, towards Wyatt's medical expenses, help us with resources to suppprt Fiona while we are in St. Pete, and honestly just allow us to focus all of our energy on helping Wyatt fight this disease. Any unused donations will allow Niki and I to give back and show our thanks to organizations like Ronald McDonald house and Tiny Hero or to All Children's who will be such a major part of our lives.
Thank you all for giving Hope 4 Wyatt!
Right now, Wyatt is happy and thriving with his sister Fiona in their mommy's tummy. Niki is 23 weeks pregnant as of July 3rd 2018. We just found out that Wyatt had a congenital trait (I am not calling it a defect because he is our perfect little boy) known as CDH: congenital diaphragmatic hernia. What that means is a portion of his diaphragm (muscle that separates the chest cavity from abdominal cavity) is missing, causing/allowing the small intestine, liver, and other organs to enter the chest cavity and press on his heart and lungs. This prevents 1 or both lungs from fully developing. This condition occurs in about 1:3000 births and is severly life threatening. Nationally, the survival rate for CDH babies is only around 50%. Frankly, Niki and I needed to find a way to improve Wyatt's odds.
We have chosen to take our fight to St. Petersburg, FL home of Dr. David Kays and Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. Dr. Kays is the nation's leading surgeon and advocate for CDH and his surgical outcomes are truly amazing (approximately 90% across his 20yr career). This is going to mean several flights, and ultimately a relocation for a minimum of 3 months. Not to mention Wyatt's surgery. We are fortunate to have an amazing support system, but this is going to be extremely taxing physically, emotionally, and financially. Your generous donation will go towards our travel and housing expenses, towards Wyatt's medical expenses, help us with resources to suppprt Fiona while we are in St. Pete, and honestly just allow us to focus all of our energy on helping Wyatt fight this disease. Any unused donations will allow Niki and I to give back and show our thanks to organizations like Ronald McDonald house and Tiny Hero or to All Children's who will be such a major part of our lives.
Thank you all for giving Hope 4 Wyatt!
Organizer
Josh Ritchie
Organizer
Trussville, AL
