UPDATE 6/16/25

Briar came home from the NICU ON January 12th! December 2nd, 2024 will forever be the scariest night of our lives. As we were getting ready to be discharged Briar had a routine MRI. Unfortunately, that MRI showed a hypoxic cerebral injury from a lack of oxygen (blood flow) the night of his GI bleed. We met with a neurologist that told us Briar could end up with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and/or severe cognitive delays.

Shortly after coming home I noticed that Briar seemed to have these staring spells that would take a bit to get him out of. His pediatrician scheduled for him to have a 6 hour EEG done. That EEG showed multifocal epilepsy and epileptic encephalopathy. We have met with three neurologists so far to make sure Briar is on the best anti seizure medication. It is unclear if he has had seizures yet. So far none have been caught on a 6 hour or 24 hour EEG. This diagnosis has also brought on CVI ️ and a global developmental delay.

Since Briars epilepsy is not genetic there is no road map to follow. He will show/tell us what he is capable of. Right now Briar is in therapy 4 times a week. We see so much progress after each session and hope to get him into an intensive program soon. Each two week session costs anywhere from $3000-$5000. These DMI therapy sessions are amazing for babies/kids with brain injuries.

Hi, I am Janelle, Briar's mom. I am creating this Go Fund Me to help raise money to cover the cost of some of our monthly bills while Briar is in the NICU.

Briar was born on August 30th, 105 days before his due date. As of today, 12/8, he has been in the NICU for 100 days. He has been sicker in the past two weeks, then when he was born at 25 weeks. In the beginning we were hoping we would be home by Christmas, but that will not be the case. At this time we are hoping for March-April.

Being born at 25 weeks comes with the chance of lots of complications. Briar had a grade 3 brain bleed, a large heart murmur, and a webbing in his duodenum (c-shape that connects the stomach and intestines. We had to wait until he was 1800 grams for him to have surgery to correct the duodenum. He had surgery on 11/14 and everything has been fine from a surgery standpoint. However, after surgery his left lung closed and we have had a hard time keeping his lungs open since then. He has now been intubated longer at 39 weeks gestation than when he was born at 25 weeks.

This past Monday we thought we were going to loose him. He developed a horrible GI bleed after we start the DART steroids to help extubate him. He was loosing blood faster than they could give it to him. This boy is such a fighter and despite all odds against him he pulled through.

UPDATE 6/16 -