Amelia & Her Family

This is being organized by Kayla Serrano & Sarah Shaferly, we work with Jeremiah Brown and wanted to share his and his family's story, please read below about the experience this wonderful family has gone through, and please donate if you can. We hope to get to the amount listed but if we surpass that, even better!

"I am writing to talk about my family and all we have faced in the past 12 months. When my wife was 20 weeks pregnant we found out our daughter had hlhs also known as hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

A normal heart has 4 chambers, Amelia's heart only has 3.

The day she was born she was sent to a children's hospital because she stopped breathing, without meds right away she would have passed away. 6 days after she was born she had her first reconstructive surgery. Right after her surgery, she had blood clot problems in her legs which made it to where they could barely get a heartbeat in her feet. So she had to be on Lovenox shots for a long time. She stayed in the hospital for 3 months after her first surgery, due to having problems with her oxygen and being unable to eat. During that time she had 2 more stents put in her heart because it was not functioning well.

I still had to go to work and support my family from home and at the hospital which was hard. In December, Amelia was able to go home for a few weeks. However, her oxygen started getting lower and lower. So she was brought back to Children’s Hospital in Columbus where we were informed that Amelia would need her second reconstructive surgery. Since Amelia was so little, they had to keep her in the hospital on oxygen for a month before the surgery could be done.

In February she went off to surgery again. This time there were serious complications. She ended up having a lymphatic leak and fluids going into her lungs, as well as more blood clots. They put a tube in her lung

to drain the fluids and had to put her back on Lovenox shots. They spent 4 months in the hospital trying to get the leaks to stop while also putting in a central line in her leg to help her get everything she needed until the fluids stopped. During that time she had more stents put in her heart.

We had her home again for 3 weeks then she had to go in and have a nissen and g tube surgery. Afterwards, she stayed at the hospital for a few weeks to recover. Amelia was able to come home but not before we had to make more trips to Children’s Hospital ER due to oxygen problems. She ended up with COVID twice and it almost took her life.

So during everything for the past year, I have been the only one supporting my family. Our daughter has a long road ahead of her with more surgeries and a heart and lung transplant to keep her alive. My wife is pregnant and can't work due to her health during it all. Times have been hard paying bills and driving back and forth from our town to Columbus which is over an hour and a half to work. I took my car in to get a front-end alignment and new tires and found out my frame is rusted away to the point it is unsafe to drive. They said to repair the car with all the problems they found would cost roughly $2000.00. My wife is pregnant with another child so it's time to buy a minivan anyway but anything will do. So please anything would truly help me and my family to get a car so I can make it to work and her appointments and the hospital." -Jeremiah Brown