Colton Jack Sowle - Medical Fund

I am raising money for Colton Jack Sowle my first grand baby! He was born on 7/31 with a congenital heart defect (CHD) known as hypo-plastic left heart syndrome. This CHD is complex and rare (occurs in 1 in every 4300 births/year in US) which effects normal blood flow throughout the heart. As Colton grew throughout pregnancy, the left ventricle of his heart did not form correctly, resulting in this condition. The cause of HLHS is unclear and there are no known risk factors for the condition - it is not preventable. Treatment for HLHS consists of 3 open-heart surgeries in order for the right side of Colton’s heart to be restructured to pump blood to the rest of his body. The first surgery, the Norwood procedure, happens the first week of his life. Colton had his procedure on 8/6 and will be spending the next 4-6 weeks (on average) at Children’s Minneapolis in the CV ICU as he recovers. Colton has had to fight off several infection’s. Lengthening his stay at Children’s. The second surgery, the Glenn, happens between 4-6 months of age. The third surgery, the Fontan, happens between 2-5 years old. These donations of money will be spent to support Colton’s expensive medical expenses including the cost of his first open-heart surgery (Norwood), his second open heart surgery (Glenn), his unexpected infection which led to a exploratory laparotomy due to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and his in-patient stay at Children’s Minneapolis during those procedures (3+ months). We are expecting his expenses to be in the millions and ANY support to assist in paying some of the out of pocket maximum for our insurance is greatly appreciated. They may also use some funds for gas, parking and food expenses for their daily visits to see Colton at Children’s Minneapolis. We greatly appreciate all of the support in advance – no matter how big or small! This has been a really long and difficult road for the Sowle Family and baby Colton. We are extremely grateful for the prayers, love and well wishes from our family and friends as we all navigate this journey. They honestly couldn’t do it without you all! This means the world to our family. Colton is Morgan and Clint’s first baby and our first grandbaby. We anxiously await the day in which they can bring him home to meet our friends/family. With covid-19 restrictions, only Clint and Morgan have been able to visit Colton at the hospital, which, as you can imagine, has been tough on everyone. Colton has been nothing but a strong fighter and we are so incredibly proud of him. Since his first heart surgery, he has developed 3 infections and has had to be re-intubated to support his body as it heals. Colton currently is battling an intense gut infection (called necrotizing enterocolitis) that has pushed the hospital stay back quite sometime (we have no idea the duration at this time) and has been really hard for baby Colton to battle. Unfortunately, this infection got really bad which led to another surgery, called an exploratory laparotomy, where it was determined that most of Colton’s small intestine was no longer viable and had to be surgically removed (leaving him with just 10cm) and being diagnosed with short gut/bowel syndrome. This was extremely unexpected, has a lot of unknowns for Colton and has been the most difficult emotional toll on the Sowle Family with now another syndrome to navigate. We continue to ask for a lot of prayers, well wishes and love as we continue through this journey. We do not know exactly what the future holds but we are just trying to take a step at a time and be strong for baby boy. He deserves to have the very best life. Colton cannot wait to meet you all and loves you tons already! We also want to thank the INCREDIBLE medical team at Children’s Minneapolis for taking amazing care of sweet baby boy. To help get the word out, please consider sharing the Go Fund Me link to your social media page. If you want to know more-on Colton’s story, please visit his caring-bridge page at: Visit Colton's Site: https://caringbridge.org/visit/babyboysowle Site Name: babyboysowle