Love for Baby Quinlan!

On August 29, 2014 Lindsay and Jaunel “Bear” Weekes welcomed their first baby—a little boy named Quinlan John Weekes. While you can tell from looking at him how cute he is, what you can't tell from one picture is how unbelievably strong he and his parents have had to be since he was born.


In the time he's been alive, Q has seen more specialists, doctors, and nurses, than most adults do in their lifetime. He's spent more time in the hospital in the past seven months than most families do in 10 years. He's had MRIs, EKGs, EEGs, and more blood drawn and tests run than you can imagine. And through it all he's been one of the sweetest, cuddliest, easy going babies of all time. Spend an hour with him and there is no way you won't fall in love with his little smile, and his hands that always want to hold onto a finger, or his happy little cooing as he talks and laughs. And don't even get me started on how cute his yawn is! Just ask any of the numerous nurses he's had during his stays at Boston Children's Hospital and Franciscan Hospital--it's impossible not to fall in love with him!

 

But no matter how happy and relieved his entire family is whenever another test comes back ruling out something, the truth is that Quinlan has a long road ahead of him filled with therapists, specialists, and a lot of hard work. One thing Quinlan will never have to worry about is running out of love and support, since he is surrounded by both unconditionally at all times. 

 

In the short time Quinlan has been part of the family, he has already had two extended stays at Boston Children's Hospital. The first one began on New Year’s Day, where he spent a large majority of his stay on a Neurology floor where his wonderful doctors discovered that he was having seizures. Unlike what most of us think of when we hear the word seizures, Quinlan had no outward indications that he was having them. Had it not been for his parents going with their gut when they thought something was wrong, he might have been much older before they were discovered. With the right medication, the seizures were under control (although did not stop entirely) and Lindsay and Bear were able to bring their baby home with them, finally, on January 28. Equipped with a feeding tube and many appointments for follow ups, Quinlan came home and life resumed, for the most part.

 

Everything seemed to be going well, the feeding tube was helping him gain weight (as he had always been on the small side), he got a helmet to help correct some slight misshapen areas of his head, and he resumed his weekly meetings with his truly outstanding early intervention nurse, occupational and physical therapists, and Lindsay was able to go back to work after a month away.

 

Then, on February 16 Lindsay and Bear took him to see his pediatrician, as they were concerned with a runny nose and his all around change in demeanor. Tests were run and it was determined that Quinlan had RSV--a relatively common respiratory virus that can be very serious and dangerous in babies. Once again, the Weekes family were sent to Boston Children's Hospital. Quinlan was given a bed in the ICU and had around the clock care as everyone hoped the virus was caught quickly. Despite his wonderful care, Quinlan had to have a breathing tube put in and with it came sedatives and paralytics. For two weeks, he had a machine breathing for him while he laid in bed, sleeping and still the whole time. In this time he had a new feeding tube put in, one that no longer went in his nose and down his throat but instead straight into his belly. Finally, the breathing tube came out, the sedatives wore off and he was back to a chatty, happy baby. Everyone assumed it would be a few days until he could once again. Unfortunately, despite all signs pointing at him going home soon, this wouldn’t be the case. While Quinlan slept his oxygen levels kept dropping, something that had to be fixed before he could go home. Medications had to be adjusted and he had to be carefully monitored. After a week on a general floor at Children's, he was moved to Franciscan Hospital for what would hopefully be a short stay before returning home.

 

As of April 15, Quinlan is at Franciscan’s, where he continues to receive monitoring until he can come home. After eight weeks of laying in a bed on his back, physical and occupational therapists will have to work with him more than ever to get him back to where he had been before his latest hospital stay. In the meantime, he spends his time smiling and laughing (when he’s not sleeping, of course) and taking advantage of all that Franciscan’s Hospital has to offer their patients.

 

Lindsay returned to work part time on April 13 after an eight week leave of absence, during which time their family was living on a single income, and driving to and from Boston, parking in a parking garage, eating at the hospital. Throughout the entire ordeal they have remained strong, positive and very true to themselves. They still seem surprised by the outpouring of support they've received from everyone who has heard about what they're going through, and have been reluctant to ask for help. However, everything that they have gone through has been stressful enough, without the added financial stress. No one can tell us for sure what the future holds, and everything must be taken one step at a time. We all remain so grateful for all the joy Quinlan has brought us, and excited to watch as he grows and develops. 

 

Please help us in supporting Lindsay and Bear so that they can focus on their amazing, adorable, wonderful baby boy without being buried under the extensive financial burden that comes with the struggles. Thank you from our whole family for all of the support Lindsay, Bear, and Quinlan have received and continue to receive throughout this time!