On August 16, 2019, Lauryn and Stephen gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, 16 weeks too early. Lauryn went into labor at 23 weeks, and after trying to keep him in for 5 days, Kross Charles Raymond Spears entered this world at 24 weeks and 1 day gestation, weighing 1 lb 6.5 oz. They were told that Kross would only have a 50 percent chance of surviving , and if he did, there was an extremely high chance he would have life long health complications. But Kross came out a fighter & after 5 months, he’s still here fighting everyday! Kross suffers from several conditions. One of the conditions is chronic lung disease, a.k.a. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), which means he has inflammation and scarring in a significant portion of his lungs making it hard for him to efficiently oxygenate his body. Another condition he suffers from, caused by the chronic lung disease, is pulmonary hypertension which nearly took him away from us earlier in December. Kross also has an ASD in his heart which to put in the most simplest terms is a hole in his heart that mixes oxygenated blood with not oxygenated blood. He has also had pneumonia 4 times which has caused devastating setbacks in his healing and development. So with all his respiratory ailments, Kross had gotten to the point where little to no progress was being made and we started looking into alternative options to bring him home sooner. One of those options was a tracheostomy, which is a semi-permanent procedure where a small incision is made in a baby’s trachea and a breathing tube is inserted. It was a big decision because it would be a completely different lifestyle change; Kross would have to have 24 hour care. But after a lot of contemplating the decision was made to get the surgery. On January 13th, the day of surgery, Kross faced extreme complications and was not able to proceed with it. We nearly lost him again and his condition was extremely critical. Kross is still critical. Toledo Hospital is running out of options for him. Lauryn says losing her baby is not an option and she has been determined to find a hospital that can create a care plan to repair Kross’s health. She did just that. Lauryn has located Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH, over 2 hours away from Toledo. This hospital is better equipped to care for Kross’s needs. Lauryn has been balancing a full time job and staying by Kross’s side every step of the way the entire 5 months at Toledo Hospital. When Kross moves to Nationwide in Columbus that will not change. This means that Lauryn will have to quit her job to go to Columbus and Stephen will have to make the sacrifice of being away from both Kross and Lauryn in order to maintain their apartment and other bills. These two amazing young parents are already going through a lot having to advocate and be there for their son during this critical time. I would like to take some of the financial burden off their shoulders. I am humbly asking for your help. Even the smallest donation will play a big part in their journey to bringing their baby boy home. We thank you very much for your generosity. Kross thanks you. It truly takes a village.