Baby Evelyn Townsend Gendron

Alice and Ed welcomed their sweet baby girl, Evelyn Nirena "Evie", into the world on February 28th. She weighed 5lb, 14oz and was full-term. Within a few minutes of finally meeting her, Evie was rushed to the NICU due to difficulty breathing. At first it was thought that she aspirated fluid during delivery, but unfortunately that was not the case. Baby Evelyn has been diagnosed with Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn, or PPHN. Basically, the vessels in her lungs are not dilating as they should, so the blood is not entering the lungs from the heart as it should. She is on a ventilator, numerous IVs, and is sedated. She can not be held, touched, or exposed to loud noises, as all stimulation increases her already high pressures. As you can imagine, this is very difficult for Alice and Ed.  Evie is a fighter, however, on March 8th,  her condition declined and she had to be transported to Chicago for more intensive care and monitoring. At this point, she remains sedated on a ventilator as the doctors monitor her condition. It is a possibility that she will be placed on ECMO (a machine will do the work of her lungs) if her lungs do not start to show signs of improvement soon. Please consider making a donation to help with mounting medical expenses, as well as their daily needs as they remain at their daughter's side.  Ed has not returned to work, as Evie's condition remains critical.  At this time, it is not know how long she will remain in the NICU.  Thank-you.  Update: Late on March 10th, Evie underwent surgery to place the cannulas for the ECMO machine. She made it through surgery and is now relying on the machine to oxygenate and circulate her blood; doing the work of her heart and lungs to hopefully allow her lungs to heal. She is being carefully monitored around the clock by medical staff to see if she responds to this invasive, last resort treatment.