This page was created for John & Jackie (Brown) Landry and their precious unborn baby, Oliver William Landry, due April 2021. At the height of John & Jackie’s emotional 4-year journey to conceive a baby, they received news that no parent would ever want to hear. Oliver was diagnosed with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). Their story is below, and we hope you take time to read it, say a prayer, and help if you can for John and Jackie’s son, our grandson, nephew, and cousin who deserves a fighting chance. 
#Fight4Ollie #TinyHero

About Me:
Hi, I’m Oliver. I haven’t officially entered the world yet, but you should know I’m a fighter. After many years of pain, loss, tears, heartache, and the long road of in vitro fertilization (IVF), my parents were ecstatic to find out they created a single viable embryo, which we’d later find out was me and my identical twin, Odin. Unfortunately, we lost him early on, so now it's just me. After several normal ultrasounds, my parents routinely went to my 20-week appointment; this time my ultrasound revealed that I have a severe case of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). CDH is a defect in which the diaphragm doesn’t form completely, creating a hole. This hole allows my abdominal organs (stomach, liver, intestines) to enter the chest cavity, crowding my lungs and preventing them from developing. Luckily, I get my oxygen from Mommy, but when I’m born I won’t be able to breathe or cry like healthy babies. I will need to be placed on a heart-lung bypass machine called ECMO which is used to provide me with oxygen, allowing time for my lungs and heart to grow. This could take a few weeks until I’m stable enough for the complex surgery I will need to save my life. Following the surgery, I will have to spend 3-4 months in the NICU under expert care from the CDH team.

Among all the things that have led to today, my parents have had to learn all about my condition. CDH is very rare, occurring in one in every 2,500-3,000 births. Many well-intentioned doctors underestimate the survival potential for these babies and recommend terminating the pregnancy – that’s what happened to me. My first doctor told my mom and dad that I have a 5% chance of survival. You can imagine the devastation they felt after their long journey thus far, but they refuse to give up on this one in a million-little boy. After researching more about CDH and talking with multiple children’s hospitals, my family found hope with Dr. David Kays at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. Dr. Kays and his team specialize in CDH and have an over 90% survival rate for babies just like me. With his care, I can not only survive this, but I can have the chance of living a healthy life. I will give it my all to fight with might but I need your prayers and support too!

How You Can Help: 
My family and I live in Iowa, however, we’ll need to temporarily relocate to Florida in February for care before and after I’m born.  There are numerous added expenses that go along with caring for a CDH baby like me, many of which we don’t even know about yet. In addition to surmounting medical expenses from the out of state care I will require, there are travel expenses, housing expenses, and unknown time away from work for my parents. Future expenses could include follow up surgeries, medical supplies, and special medical care that I will need to grow healthy and strong. 

Thank you for taking time to read my story and for your love and support, it is incredibly appreciated! To learn more about CDH, visit https://www.tinyhero.org/ 

#Fight4Ollie #TinyHero