Ronnie Dean is an eight-month old baby boy who was born with severe congenital heart defects.  Ronnie’s official diagnosis is criss cross heart, DORV with pulmonary atresia and a VSD.  Ronnie had his first open heart surgery at four days old to place a BT shunt.  On August 26, 2016 Ronnie underwent his second open heart surgery.  His second surgery was a complex version of a senning-rastelli, which is one of the most sophisticated and complex surgeries performed across the country.  Since surgery, Ronnie has had a rough road to recovery with complications ranging from blood pressure issues, arrhythmias, and multiple un-diagnosable infections.  Ronnie’s parents and twin brother, Sara, Jeff and Roman Dean have not left Ronnie’s side for over 6 weeks.  Day in and day out they have been living at C.S Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor which is one hour away from their home.  

For a short time, Ronnie was moved from ICU to moderate care and seemed to be healing, and his heart function was improving.  One week ago, Ronnie’s health experienced a major setback and he was again moved back to ICU and is back on a ventilator.  Originally, Ronnie’s hospital recovery was expected to take three-four weeks, unfortunately, with all of the complications, his stay will be much longer.  Sara and Jeff are currently unable to work because, simply put, Ronnie’s days are unpredictable and his needs are constantly changing.  This, along with caring for Ronnie’s twin brother Roman at the same time, has been a real challenge.

 For all of you that know Sara and Jeff and have witnessed all that they have gone through, somehow, by the grace of God they have stayed strong.  For those of you who don’t know them, please know that these are two of the most loving and caring people in this world and their boys Roman and Ronnie are the light of their lives. Sara, Jeff, Roman and Ronnie will get through this and they will give back to the Congenital Heart Defect community. 

So many people have reached out asking what they can do to help.  In a sense, we know the most effective thing we can do for Ronnie directly, is pray.  With such a long road ahead and not knowing how long their hospital stay will be, we feel the time has come for us to help financially as well.  Sara and Jeff’s families have decided to make this page on their behalf to help alleviate some of the financial burden that they have accumulated.  Right now, the last thing we want Sara and Jeff to have to worry about is money.  Please know that any and all donations will go directly to Sara and Jeff and will help them stay afloat in the weeks/months to come.  Thank you in advance to each and every person who has followed Ronnie’s story thus far, and those who are able to make a donation to his family, it Is appreciated more then you will ever know.