Henry Kip Coffey

Henry's Story During my 26th week if pregnancy I was diagnoised with Preeclampsia, to say I was scared would have been an understatement, but that was the least of my worries. After being referred to a high risk obgyn it was found that our son had Shone's Variant with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. We were also told he had a multicystic right kidney that would never work. We were terrified for not only my health but what this would mean for our baby. By 30 weeks I had to be admitted to the hospital and we were told Henry would not survive becuase his medical needs were too great. Transfering him to a more prepared hospital after delivery was our only other option. June 5th at 12:38pm Henry was born. He was only 31 weeks. Our obgyn told us later that if they had not delivered when they did neither of us would have survived because I had been very close to death. As soon as Henry was born he was rushed to a second Hospital. We were told again by the second Hospital there was nothing more that they could do and that we needed to let him go. Despite everything he was stable and we just did not see him giving up. We fought for two days to have him transferred to Texas Children's Hospital. At Texas Children's we were given less than a 1% chance that Henry would survive surgery. It was so low his surgeon couldn't even come up with a number for his chance of making it through, but at least it was a chance. Henry is only 3.6lbs and his heart is barely bigger than a marble. At 8 days old Henry had his his first heart surgery and at 10 days old he had his second. Between surgeries Henry's chest was left open so they could monitor it. Both operations were done so Henry would have time to grow before his next surgery. Henry defied the odds and made it through! He is such a miracle. We are so thankful God was with Henry, his surgical team, and for Dr. Mery at Texas Children's Hospital for giving Henry a chance when no one else would. Henry will need at least two more heart surgeries before the age of two and a surgery to repair his cleft pallet. We are looking at a very long road ahead of us. Dan and I will be staying in Houston until at at least his third surgery is done. That means many months in the hospital with medical expenses, hotel stays so we can be close to Henry if we do not get selected for Ronald McDonald House, and basic needs while being away from home. Any donations would be appreciated and thank you all for the love, prayers, and support many of you have already given during this time.