Bodhi's Heart Heroes

Baby Bodhi was born on February 10, 2019 at 1:41 in the morning.
He was three weeks early, but he was ready. 

After a fast labor and delivery, Bodhi landed on my chest, wrapped his tiny hand around my finger and looked me directly in the eye - as if to say "I'm here Mama, I'm so excited to meet you!" 

The name Bodhi means "enlightened one." It came to me in a dream early in the pregnancy. In that dream, my sweet boy seemed to know so much about life... So much about the world around him.

After that first special moment with his big blue eyes looking into mine as he held my hand so tightly, Bodhi's name just seemed to be a perfect fit.

Bodhi, arriving early, was a beautiful newborn baby. He arrived so fast, his head wasn't even squished! He weighed 7 lbs, 11 oz and was just perfect.

The next day, when one of the pediatricians came to meet Bodhi, everything looked great - we had a healthy, sweet baby boy.

But then, the next day... When we were getting ready for his circ, our regular doctor came in and after a quick listen, said "Bodhi has a heart murmur." 

This was the first anyone had said to us about the murmur. And it was a complete shock to the system. My ears started ringing. I'll never forget that moment.

Dr told us we should just keep an eye on things and see where this might go. That most of these things are not a big deal. That often times these murmurs resolve on their own.

At our two week check up, the murmur was still there and "louder than we would like it to be." Dr recommended we reach out to the Children's Hospital in Denver to get a closer look by a cardiologist.

We went to Denver the very next day.

After a very long two hour echocardiogram appointment, our cardiologist informed us that there was a very large hole in Bodhi's heart. One that would not resolve on its own without help of surgery.

In the months since that first appointment, we have had numerous visits at Children's Hospital of Colorado and checkups in between with our doctors in Frisco. At first, we were seeing doctors every other week. Then, every two weeks. Our next appointment will have been four weeks since the previous one. Since Bodhi's birth, we have been to the doctor over a dozen times in less than four months.

Bodhi will be having surgery before the end of 2019, although we don't have a specific date yet (Dr says probably by October or November). It will be an open heart surgery to repair what has been diagnosed as Tetralogy of Fallot. 

During the surgery, Bodhi will be placed on a heart and lung bypass while doctors work to close the huge hole in his tiny heart. They'll open his chest, repair the hole, close him back up... All during what will likely be the longest six hours of our lives. After surgery, we will move into the cardiac ICU for a few days and then into an in-patient room at the hospital for another week.

Even with a decent health insurance policy, this is going to be insanely expensive. We've been paying bills as they come in and have already spent nearly$10K out of pocket (on top of insurance premiums) - and there's roughly another $10K in medical bills sitting on my desk as I type this. In a few weeks, we have another appointment for an echocardiogram and cardiology visit; these types of appointments cost $1200 out of pocket for us each time.

Brian and I have gone round and round about whether or not to ask for help. Neither of us has ever done this before, never had to. But this time, it's just too big for us to handle on our own. Quite simply, we just need help and that's why I've set up this fundraiser.

Truly, anything - any help at all - would mean the world to us. It might help us to pay for gas to get back and forth to the hospital for our upcoming appointments or cover portions of the cardiology visit we have coming up next month, or expenses like the cost of surgery itself or Bodhi's week-long stay in the ICU post-surgery. There are almost too many things to list - but the bottom line is we would be unbelievably grateful for your help.

Thank you for your compassion, for your help and for being a part of this journey for Bodhi.

Much love,

Julie & Brian