Care for Cooper
Donation protected
When someone is in need, we don't walk away...we stop and listen.
This is my dear friend and she needs help.
This is her story. So, please stop and listen.
COOPER’S JOURNEY:
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a mother. I had all of these fantasies about what being a mommy would be like. They all came true when we had Cooper. He was strong, determined and wide eyed from the moment he came into this world. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. And then reality rushed in. He was born with cleft lip and palate, which we knew was going to happen. We had prepared ourselves for that. His heart murmur; that was something we didn’t know. That new piece of information changed our lives forever. With the help of my parents, I was able to stay home with him for seven months before he went into daycare. This allowed for his three craniofacial surgeries and most importantly, the life-saving heart surgery he underwent when he was 4 ½ months old. Staying home with no salary for seven months is not cheap. We owe my parent $17, 000.00. We were able to pay his other major medical bills off, fortunately. And we knew that more bills would come. The orthodontia and facial changes of a child with cleft lip and palate is a tricky thing. Growth happens, and so corrections need to be made. In addition to the facial corrections, Cooper needed three sets of tubes for his ears. Kids with cleft lip and palate are 75% more likely to develop multiple ear infections that can lead to severe hearing loss. Each one of his minor day procedures cost in the neighborhood of $2,000.00. We were set to deal with all of this. And we did. We set up payment plans and paid on them dutifully.
Greg was the one who began to notice the change in Coop’s behavior when he was three. He told me about his concerns and I chalked our little boy’s ignoring us up to an active imagination. Greg finally put his foot down and insisted we have his hearing tested. Cooper had lost 80% of his hearing in his left ear. I didn’t want to believe it. It was a devastating blow. As an educator, this was monumental. I was terrified what this might mean for him as a student. Would he need to be in specialized classes? Would he be able to go to a regular school? But, as always, he acclimated to “Lefty,” his hearing aid, beautifully. He became the happy social kid he was before the hearing loss.
Despite the loss, he was exited from his speech program because he spoke beautifully and read at a kindergarten level as a four year old. That hearing aid, a $1,500, device changed the quality of his life. Last year, as a kindergartener, it was decided that he needed a hearing aid for his right ear as well, for clarity in the classroom. So, he got “Righty.” He will happily tell you that his hearing aids are cool, help him hear better, and look like Darth Vader because they are clear and you can see all the cool electronics inside them.
Cooper finished kindergarten as a top reader. He continues to love the Tae Kwon Do class he started last summer. We received an all clear for another year from the cardiologist. In the cranio-facial world, we knew some things might start to arise soon. We anticipated this. And then something new happened. After crashing into the side of the bathtub, being a boy running in the house, we took him to get an x-ray. Cooper is not a complainer. And when he complained that his back truly hurt, we were concerned. Rarely does he get sick or whine about anything hurting. The x-ray revealed some abnormally shaped vertebrae, butterfly vertebrae is the term. And at this point, I’m not going to lie, I broke.
I want to make it clear that I have not been the strongest one in our household for most of Cooper’s childhood. I am lucky that Greg is always there to shore me up when I falter. All of this has made me question so much in the world about fairness. I have asked WHY so many times I have lost count. But, as always, Greg was there to help.
We eventually saw a pediatric orthopedist and a geneticist. Both wonderful doctors. The short version was this. Yes, there are some issues with his vertebrae. Yes, genetic testing will give us some answers. Yes, we will need to do more extensive testing to see the full extent of the issues in Cooper’s back. So, we went to Dell Children’s, where we have been so many times before, and Cooper had a sedated MRI, CT, nose scope, abdominal ultrasound and a full blood panel done. That half day cost us $5,000.00. That’s with our insurance. Thank you $4,000.00 deductible. And that pretty much brings us up to date.
We owe Dell $4,000.00 as of today. And yes, we applied for Social Security/Disability. Surely a kid with all of Cooper’s extensive health concerns would qualify. No. We make too much money. We are in the process of applying for Medicaid. The amount of hoops one has to jump through to get government assistance for a medically needy child is astounding! So, that pretty much brings us up to date. In the coming years, Cooper will have to have many different appliances, visits with, and possible surgeries with the cranio-facial team. These devices and procedures are costly. When he is a teenager, due to his severe under bite, his jaw will have to be broken and reset in order to allow his teeth to properly align.
We want to be able to care of our child’s medical concerns on our own. We want to be able to face these difficulties with everyone’s moral support and shoulder the rest on our own. We just can’t. We need help. I spend all day helping my students become better readers and writers. I give of myself to help them find academic qualities in themselves they can be proud of, maybe for the first time in their academic lives. I support my fellow teachers and lend a hand wherever and whenever I am able. I help people. That’s who I am and that is what I do. I don’t ask others for help. I am now in the unique position of being the one who needs help. The medical bills we have now will be paid down in monthly installments as they always are, but they are beginning to add up. We need your monetary help. I know times are tough and the economy is not the best. We appreciate any monetary assistance you can give Cooper. The money will pay off debts we have, and if there is more, it will be placed in an account for Cooper’s future medical expenses.
This has been a very difficult decision to ask for this help. Anything that you can give will be so deeply appreciated. Greg and I will never be able to fully express our humble gratitude, but believe me, we will try. Thank you for taking the time to read about our sweet boy. Feel free to share his story with others. And please know, through all of this, we feel we have been so incredibly blessed by this kid in our lives. He changed everything, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
This is my dear friend and she needs help.
This is her story. So, please stop and listen.
COOPER’S JOURNEY:
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a mother. I had all of these fantasies about what being a mommy would be like. They all came true when we had Cooper. He was strong, determined and wide eyed from the moment he came into this world. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. And then reality rushed in. He was born with cleft lip and palate, which we knew was going to happen. We had prepared ourselves for that. His heart murmur; that was something we didn’t know. That new piece of information changed our lives forever. With the help of my parents, I was able to stay home with him for seven months before he went into daycare. This allowed for his three craniofacial surgeries and most importantly, the life-saving heart surgery he underwent when he was 4 ½ months old. Staying home with no salary for seven months is not cheap. We owe my parent $17, 000.00. We were able to pay his other major medical bills off, fortunately. And we knew that more bills would come. The orthodontia and facial changes of a child with cleft lip and palate is a tricky thing. Growth happens, and so corrections need to be made. In addition to the facial corrections, Cooper needed three sets of tubes for his ears. Kids with cleft lip and palate are 75% more likely to develop multiple ear infections that can lead to severe hearing loss. Each one of his minor day procedures cost in the neighborhood of $2,000.00. We were set to deal with all of this. And we did. We set up payment plans and paid on them dutifully.
Greg was the one who began to notice the change in Coop’s behavior when he was three. He told me about his concerns and I chalked our little boy’s ignoring us up to an active imagination. Greg finally put his foot down and insisted we have his hearing tested. Cooper had lost 80% of his hearing in his left ear. I didn’t want to believe it. It was a devastating blow. As an educator, this was monumental. I was terrified what this might mean for him as a student. Would he need to be in specialized classes? Would he be able to go to a regular school? But, as always, he acclimated to “Lefty,” his hearing aid, beautifully. He became the happy social kid he was before the hearing loss.
Despite the loss, he was exited from his speech program because he spoke beautifully and read at a kindergarten level as a four year old. That hearing aid, a $1,500, device changed the quality of his life. Last year, as a kindergartener, it was decided that he needed a hearing aid for his right ear as well, for clarity in the classroom. So, he got “Righty.” He will happily tell you that his hearing aids are cool, help him hear better, and look like Darth Vader because they are clear and you can see all the cool electronics inside them.
Cooper finished kindergarten as a top reader. He continues to love the Tae Kwon Do class he started last summer. We received an all clear for another year from the cardiologist. In the cranio-facial world, we knew some things might start to arise soon. We anticipated this. And then something new happened. After crashing into the side of the bathtub, being a boy running in the house, we took him to get an x-ray. Cooper is not a complainer. And when he complained that his back truly hurt, we were concerned. Rarely does he get sick or whine about anything hurting. The x-ray revealed some abnormally shaped vertebrae, butterfly vertebrae is the term. And at this point, I’m not going to lie, I broke.
I want to make it clear that I have not been the strongest one in our household for most of Cooper’s childhood. I am lucky that Greg is always there to shore me up when I falter. All of this has made me question so much in the world about fairness. I have asked WHY so many times I have lost count. But, as always, Greg was there to help.
We eventually saw a pediatric orthopedist and a geneticist. Both wonderful doctors. The short version was this. Yes, there are some issues with his vertebrae. Yes, genetic testing will give us some answers. Yes, we will need to do more extensive testing to see the full extent of the issues in Cooper’s back. So, we went to Dell Children’s, where we have been so many times before, and Cooper had a sedated MRI, CT, nose scope, abdominal ultrasound and a full blood panel done. That half day cost us $5,000.00. That’s with our insurance. Thank you $4,000.00 deductible. And that pretty much brings us up to date.
We owe Dell $4,000.00 as of today. And yes, we applied for Social Security/Disability. Surely a kid with all of Cooper’s extensive health concerns would qualify. No. We make too much money. We are in the process of applying for Medicaid. The amount of hoops one has to jump through to get government assistance for a medically needy child is astounding! So, that pretty much brings us up to date. In the coming years, Cooper will have to have many different appliances, visits with, and possible surgeries with the cranio-facial team. These devices and procedures are costly. When he is a teenager, due to his severe under bite, his jaw will have to be broken and reset in order to allow his teeth to properly align.
We want to be able to care of our child’s medical concerns on our own. We want to be able to face these difficulties with everyone’s moral support and shoulder the rest on our own. We just can’t. We need help. I spend all day helping my students become better readers and writers. I give of myself to help them find academic qualities in themselves they can be proud of, maybe for the first time in their academic lives. I support my fellow teachers and lend a hand wherever and whenever I am able. I help people. That’s who I am and that is what I do. I don’t ask others for help. I am now in the unique position of being the one who needs help. The medical bills we have now will be paid down in monthly installments as they always are, but they are beginning to add up. We need your monetary help. I know times are tough and the economy is not the best. We appreciate any monetary assistance you can give Cooper. The money will pay off debts we have, and if there is more, it will be placed in an account for Cooper’s future medical expenses.
This has been a very difficult decision to ask for this help. Anything that you can give will be so deeply appreciated. Greg and I will never be able to fully express our humble gratitude, but believe me, we will try. Thank you for taking the time to read about our sweet boy. Feel free to share his story with others. And please know, through all of this, we feel we have been so incredibly blessed by this kid in our lives. He changed everything, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Organizer and beneficiary
Erin Hugghins
Organizer
Austin, TX
Erin Hugghins
Beneficiary
