Declan's Broken Heart
Donation protected
Declan Joseph Hoglund was born at 2:59 PM on February 19, 2017. He is a happy baby who was born measuring at 19.5 inches long and weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces. Instead of delivering him in the hospital, we decided to have a home birth. We had a midwife who helped us through the entire process from when Amanda became pregnant, all the way until he was born!
Declan is our first child and he is the love of our lives. Amanda, my girlfriend, and myself, Brandon, welcomed him into our lives and were filled with joy from the moment we first laid eyes on him. He is our precious little man! Its amazing how a tiny bundle of love can become your whole world in an instant.
Here's our little guy!
When Declan was born, we knew that parenting was going to be such a blessing, but also a difficult trial for Amanda and I. Reality settled in very quickly. Our midwife, Firen, was performing his first follow up, 2 days after the birth, when she heard an irregularity in his heartbeat, a wooshing sound commonly called a heart murmur. She recommended we seek out Declan's pediatrician to further explore this potential issue.
Declan's pediatrician confirmed he had a heart murmur and she refered us to a specialist who practices in pediatric cardiology. Amanda, Declan and I were at the office for almost 2 hours; our sweet little baby received an echocardiogram and an EKG. Dr. Chyu, the cardiologist, used those two tests to come to a conclusion.
Declan was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called "Tetralogy of Fallot". This condition is caused by a combination of four heart defects that are present at birth. Tetralogy of Fallot defects cause oxygen-poor blood to flow out of the heart and into the rest of the body. Essentially this is making Declan's heart work extra hard even when he isn't performing any physical activity.
In order to correct this defect, Declan will need to undergo open heart surgery at about 3-4 months old, followed by a week long stay in the ICU, then a 3-4 months long recovery at home. Thankfully this type of procedure has a high success rate and we're lucky enough to receive care from a fantastic team of pediatric cardiologists at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland.
We are blessed with the medical insurance to cover his surgery and cardiological care, however Amanda is not able to go back to work until Declan has healed from his surgery, and I am only working a portion of my normal hours because of Declan's many doctor's office visits. We are hoping to get some much needed help from our friends and family while we are living on only one (partial) income. We will be using any donations recieved to cover our bills and transportation costs that would normally be covered by mine and Amanda's full incomes.
We love our son so very much and this is a very trying period for our family. We ask that you help as much as you can. We understand that money is tight for a lot of people, but any amount of help we receive makes it that much easier for us to focus on helping Declan. Thank you!
~Amanda & Brandon
Declan is our first child and he is the love of our lives. Amanda, my girlfriend, and myself, Brandon, welcomed him into our lives and were filled with joy from the moment we first laid eyes on him. He is our precious little man! Its amazing how a tiny bundle of love can become your whole world in an instant.
Here's our little guy!
When Declan was born, we knew that parenting was going to be such a blessing, but also a difficult trial for Amanda and I. Reality settled in very quickly. Our midwife, Firen, was performing his first follow up, 2 days after the birth, when she heard an irregularity in his heartbeat, a wooshing sound commonly called a heart murmur. She recommended we seek out Declan's pediatrician to further explore this potential issue.
Declan's pediatrician confirmed he had a heart murmur and she refered us to a specialist who practices in pediatric cardiology. Amanda, Declan and I were at the office for almost 2 hours; our sweet little baby received an echocardiogram and an EKG. Dr. Chyu, the cardiologist, used those two tests to come to a conclusion.
Declan was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called "Tetralogy of Fallot". This condition is caused by a combination of four heart defects that are present at birth. Tetralogy of Fallot defects cause oxygen-poor blood to flow out of the heart and into the rest of the body. Essentially this is making Declan's heart work extra hard even when he isn't performing any physical activity.
In order to correct this defect, Declan will need to undergo open heart surgery at about 3-4 months old, followed by a week long stay in the ICU, then a 3-4 months long recovery at home. Thankfully this type of procedure has a high success rate and we're lucky enough to receive care from a fantastic team of pediatric cardiologists at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland.
We are blessed with the medical insurance to cover his surgery and cardiological care, however Amanda is not able to go back to work until Declan has healed from his surgery, and I am only working a portion of my normal hours because of Declan's many doctor's office visits. We are hoping to get some much needed help from our friends and family while we are living on only one (partial) income. We will be using any donations recieved to cover our bills and transportation costs that would normally be covered by mine and Amanda's full incomes.
We love our son so very much and this is a very trying period for our family. We ask that you help as much as you can. We understand that money is tight for a lot of people, but any amount of help we receive makes it that much easier for us to focus on helping Declan. Thank you!
~Amanda & Brandon
Organizer
Amanda Thorndike
Organizer
Brentwood, CA