Warrior Baby Dane

To introduce myself, my name is Paige and I became friends with Sarah along Dane's journey. My son was born with an Omphalocele a year before Dane. Through a Facebook group, Sarah and I connected since we both were/are at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. I can understand what they are going through as a family and the last thing I would want them to stress about is money. All of their time and energy needs to be focused on their little boys, one who is still in the NICU.

Dane's Story...

At their 16 week ultrasound, Sarah and Drace found out that their baby boy had a giant Omphalocele, which occurs in 1 in every 10,000 babies. An Omphalocele is when the abdominal wall doesn't fully close and the organs develop outside of the body in a biological sac. After multiple appointments, MRIs and ultrasounds they knew this journey was going to be a long road ahead.

Dane Scott Sanford, was born on August 15th (34 weeks and 6 days) at 10:11 am weighing an even 5 lbs.  Unfortunately, his Omphalocele was ruptured resulting in a sudden change of plans. He was taken into a multiple hour surgery at only 2 hours old to place a plastic silo over the Omphalocele to fight infection with hopes that gravity would allow some organs to settle into the abdomen in between reduction surgeries that took place every other day for the first 2 weeks.  The last surgery he had was placing an alloderm graft to have full coverage and then a week later his wound vac was placed. 

Danes NICU stay has been quite stressful with lots of ups and downs, but this little fighter refused to give up. Dane is now 2 months old and making progress in the NICU at TCH. He recently started oral feeds in a bottle, but during a swallow study they found he was aspirating. They are currently waiting to hear from a specialist on how to continue feeds safely. Big brother Vaughn was able to meet little brother Dane for the first time on October 14th!

From Sarah (@ 2 months)

Dane is becoming more of his own little person every day and his personality is beginning to blossom. So far, Dane is very content and chill. He loves looking at people and is very in tune with what everyone has to say. It was never easy, but it’s getting harder to leave him at the hospital everyday. He is so precious and is loved by so many. We are grateful for the nurses, doctors, surgeons and therapists who we entrust daily to take care of our baby, but we are surely excited for the day we can take over! Love you, buddy boy!

So here's how you can help...

As you can imagine, caring for Dane in the NICU and having multiple surgeries and more to come will create a significant financial burden for this young family. Sarah and Drace have had nothing but a positive attitude throughout this journey and are so thankful for the love and support they have received. Any monies raised will be used solely for hospital costs to cover Dane's care. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please consider a donation if you can and most of all, please pray for Sarah, Drace, Vaughn, Dane and for the skillful healing hands of the doctors and nurses at Texas Children's Hospital.

#omphalocelewarrior