Help With Baby Rowan’s Life-Saving Surgeries

Hello friends and family❤️

This has been the hardest part of my journey these last few months, figuring out what exactly to write. As my mind and emotions are all over the place, I simply can’t find the right words to express the hardship we’ve been through in the last months of this pregnancy.

In February of this year (2025), the mother of my child and I decided to attend a community baby shower in hopes of getting the things we need. They were doing free ultrasounds as part of the event. We got in line to see our baby, and when the time came to see the ultrasound, we were informed that our baby had an issue with his stomach. The doctor told us once we were done with the event, we should head to the emergency room and find out exactly what it was. They told us his organs were outside of his body in a sack because his abdominal wall hadn’t fully formed and closed. This is called an omphalocele and requires surgery at birth. Depending on how big it is and what organs are inside the sack, it depends on how many surgeries. We were informed it was a large omphalocele, which means multiple surgeries would have to be performed.

We were referred to a Springfield high-risk doctor by the emergency room. Upon our first appointment, they did another ultrasound confirming the omphalocele and looking for any other issues. After we were done, we talked with my doctor and received even more bad news… they found a heart defect.

That doctor then told us we needed to go to St. Louis immediately to get more extensive testing done about the heart and stomach.

We quickly made an appointment and were on our way a week later we confirmed he has a heart condition called truncus arteriosus, and the omphalocele is bigger than they expected, which will require a lot of surgeries for his stomach over time.

We have been so devastated at this newfound information. Trying to figure out how we can provide the treatments and surgeries he will need, we are reaching out to family and friends to help us make this happen for our baby Rowan. We have about a month and a half before going to St. Louis to be there for months to a year in the NICU to help our child with the life he deserves.

We would greatly appreciate prayers and any support we can get in this hard time we are about to wade through.

❤️❤️❤️