Rally around Tamara and Caleb's Fearless Fight!
As most of you have heard by now, our fellow classmate/co-worker/family member, Tamara had her youngest son, Caleb via emergency C-section on October 10, 2020, weighing just 1.1 lbs. Caleb has overcame so many health issues, and still continues to defeat all odds! He spent the beginning of his little life at Barbara Bush Children's Hospital/ NICU for 160 days until his lungs were strong enough. Eventually he was transferred out of there and moved down to Franciscan Children's in Massachusetts. He continues to prove what a strong little fighter he is, reaching new milestones, and finally being able to start being weaned slowly off his ventilator to a trach mist, YAY CALEB!!! On August 6, 2021, Caleb was transferred to Boston Childrens Hospital to be treated for an infection around his G-Tube site, while getting a scan done, the Dr's discovered a large mass on Caleb's liver--not the news Tamara was expecting to hear as they have overcame so many set backs. While Tamara waits for the biopsy results to come back, she is spending more time driving back and forth from Maine to Boston, on top of her regular weekend visits . She also balances her time working from home and taking care of her oldest daughter Lexie, who is 13. Being a single Mother to two children, and also dealing with so many new uncertainties surrounding Caleb, this is taking a huge financial and emotional toll on her. We cannot even begin to imagine the weight she has had to carry through all of this ( Hello SUPERWOMAN ), we can at least try and relieve some of it financially and by continuing to lift the Orthman family up in prayers and healing thoughts!
Let's rally around our sweet friend and fellow classmate along with her two amazing children, and show them they are not going through this alone!
All our love,
Lindsy & Amanda
*** LATEST UPDATE FROM TAMARA ***
Hi everyone! I wanted to share an update on Caleb. I wish it was better news, but the biopsy showed that Caleb does in fact have a very
rare and aggressive form of liver cancer called Hepatoblastoma. The one piece of good news we received was that it is localized to the liver and has not spread anywhere else in his little body. We were given only one option in treating this unfortunately; full transplant of the liver.
The liver needs to be from a baby his size, Caleb will be placed at the top of the transplant list. Starting this Thursday, little Caleb will start four types of aggressive chemo treatments to try to keep the cancer from spreading further. Chemo can be very harsh on anyone, let alone a little baby, but especially on one as complex as Caleb, so naturally I'm very worried how his little body will tolerate this. He has come so
far respiratory wise, so close to coming home, and now to have this happening is heartbreaking. He will likely stay right here at Boston
Children's through all of this and I'm thankful he is in the best hands. I wanted to keep you updated. Thank you again for your love and
prayers, it means the world! Please keep praying for sweet Caleb on this next path. Love to you all!
