Lynlee's Life Medical Fund
Donation protected
Jeff & Margaret Boemer were excited to find out they were expecting a baby girl due June 2016. At Margaret's 16 week check up it was discovered that their baby girl, Lynlee Hope, had a rare very large tumor growing out of her tailbone area called a Sacrococcygeal Teratoma (SCT). We did reseach and found that only 4 hospitals in the US had successfully done fetal intervention surgery for babies with SCT. We made appointments with one of the four hospitals (Texas Children's Hospital in Houston) and we also made an appointment with another hospital in Houston that our specialist referred us to.
At 20 weeks we came to Houston for several tests including MRI, Ultrasounds, Echocardiograms, and meetings with the specailists at both Houston hospitals. At one hospital we were strongly encouraged to terminate the pregnancy due to the extremely large size of our baby's tumor and the risks to my health. Texas Children's gave us a more positive yet realistic option of having Open Fetal Surgery to remove a large portion of Lynlee's tumor to try to save her. They told us she had a 50% chance of making it with the surgery. Jeff and I were in agreement that termination was not an option and we wanted to give Lynlee a chance at life by going with Texas Children's and having Open Fetal Surgery.
On March 7th at 23 weeks 5 days I was taken into emergency Open Fetal Surgery because Lynlee's turmor was taking the majority of her blood supply and causing her to go into cardiac failure. The doctors cut me open a little larger than a C-Section and removed my uterus. They then made a very large incision in my uterus to access Lynlee and to attempt to remove the tumor. The tumor was so large they had to puncture the fluid filled part and then cut out the vascular part of the tumor. The doctors were successful in removing 90% of the tumor. It was a shock to Lynlee's system so they did have to help restart her heart and give her a blood transfusion. Once she was stable they put her back in and sewed up my uterus and abdomen. Then it became a wait and see game. The next few days were very critical and I remained in the hosptial for a week. Lynlee slowly recoved from the invasive surgery and began having a normal heartbeat.
I was sent to the Ronald McDonald House down the street from the hosptail to stay on motified bed rest for the next 3 months and try to remain pregnant.
With the love and support of family and the many prayers of friends I have remained pregnant and Lynlee's heart has recovered and the remaining tumor has been stable! I was readmitted to the hospital for close monitoring at 34 weeks and my C-Section delivery is scheduled for June 6th when I'm 36 weeks 5 days.
Through this entire experience we have trusted in God to get us through each day. As you can imagine our expenses have become astronomical. We have a very large deductible and out of pocket maximum we have had to cover, living expenses from the Ronald McDonald House and hotels, meals, parking, travel expenses for Jeff and my girls coming down to visit me on weekends, my loss of part-time income over the last several months and now Jeff will have to take an unpaid leave of absence from work to be here for Lynlee's birth and subsequent surgery to remove the reamining part of the tumor and reconstructive surgery and NICU stay.
Please know that we have exhausted all of our savings and resources to give our baby girl Lynlee Hope a chance at life. We come humbly asking for financial help from you. Any amount of financial support is appreciated! Thank you for praying for Lynlee and our road ahead with SCT. This will be a life long health issue that she will have to have ongoing follow up for. Thank you for supporting our love for Lynlee's life!
At 20 weeks we came to Houston for several tests including MRI, Ultrasounds, Echocardiograms, and meetings with the specailists at both Houston hospitals. At one hospital we were strongly encouraged to terminate the pregnancy due to the extremely large size of our baby's tumor and the risks to my health. Texas Children's gave us a more positive yet realistic option of having Open Fetal Surgery to remove a large portion of Lynlee's tumor to try to save her. They told us she had a 50% chance of making it with the surgery. Jeff and I were in agreement that termination was not an option and we wanted to give Lynlee a chance at life by going with Texas Children's and having Open Fetal Surgery.
On March 7th at 23 weeks 5 days I was taken into emergency Open Fetal Surgery because Lynlee's turmor was taking the majority of her blood supply and causing her to go into cardiac failure. The doctors cut me open a little larger than a C-Section and removed my uterus. They then made a very large incision in my uterus to access Lynlee and to attempt to remove the tumor. The tumor was so large they had to puncture the fluid filled part and then cut out the vascular part of the tumor. The doctors were successful in removing 90% of the tumor. It was a shock to Lynlee's system so they did have to help restart her heart and give her a blood transfusion. Once she was stable they put her back in and sewed up my uterus and abdomen. Then it became a wait and see game. The next few days were very critical and I remained in the hosptial for a week. Lynlee slowly recoved from the invasive surgery and began having a normal heartbeat.
I was sent to the Ronald McDonald House down the street from the hosptail to stay on motified bed rest for the next 3 months and try to remain pregnant.
With the love and support of family and the many prayers of friends I have remained pregnant and Lynlee's heart has recovered and the remaining tumor has been stable! I was readmitted to the hospital for close monitoring at 34 weeks and my C-Section delivery is scheduled for June 6th when I'm 36 weeks 5 days.
Through this entire experience we have trusted in God to get us through each day. As you can imagine our expenses have become astronomical. We have a very large deductible and out of pocket maximum we have had to cover, living expenses from the Ronald McDonald House and hotels, meals, parking, travel expenses for Jeff and my girls coming down to visit me on weekends, my loss of part-time income over the last several months and now Jeff will have to take an unpaid leave of absence from work to be here for Lynlee's birth and subsequent surgery to remove the reamining part of the tumor and reconstructive surgery and NICU stay.
Please know that we have exhausted all of our savings and resources to give our baby girl Lynlee Hope a chance at life. We come humbly asking for financial help from you. Any amount of financial support is appreciated! Thank you for praying for Lynlee and our road ahead with SCT. This will be a life long health issue that she will have to have ongoing follow up for. Thank you for supporting our love for Lynlee's life!
Organizer
Margaret Hawkins Boemer
Organizer
Lewisville, TX
