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Ethan's Medical Fund

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On November 20th Ethan James Chisum was born to Kate & Ryan (my brother) in their current home city of Amman, Jordan. Ryan & Kate have lived overseas collectively for 16 years as singles and as a family, faithfully following God’s calling abroad. Their daughter Lydia (age 2) was born in Jordan without complication and with a great experience.

Though Lydia was born via C-section, they had a very positive experience with the medical care they received at the best hospital in Jordan and felt confident it would serve them well again. Like Lydia, Ethan was born via C-section at 10 days overdue, as there were no signs of labor. He was born into the world at 8:30am. At birth Ryan noted some color and mucus in Ethan’s mouth that did not seem normal. By 11:30 Ethan’s color was beginning to grow paler & bluish in color and he was unable to latch. Kate suggested that the pediatrician check him for a tongue-tie since his sister Lydia had a lip-tie.

The hammer dropped when the pediatrician examined Ethan. Before Ryan knew what was happening, Ethan was put on oxygen as his O2 levels were dangerously low (anything under 92 is cause for serious concern in a newborn) and he was moved to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Ethan’s lungs remained somewhat stable on 100% oxygen at 8 liters of oxygen per minute and an X-ray showed significant fluid/mucus in his lungs.

However, he began to decline and was therefore fully sedated & put on a ventilator. Even on the ventilator he was unable to maintain oxygen levels and was fluctuating between 92%-94% O2 saturation with incredibly irregular and fast respiration. Over the next two days Ethan declined further and Ryan & Kate both felt that the doctors were preparing them to expect Ethan not to make it.

Around this time is when you no doubt began seeing prayer requests from their family and friends popping up all over social media. Prayers began to be answered and their doctor brought in a neonatologist and a new medicine was tried which helped open Ethan’s lungs. His levels miraculously began to improve!

As of November 25th Ethan is still in the NICU but off of the ventilator! Praise God!!! He is still on oxygen, has a feeding tube and can only be out of his incubator for 20 minutes at a time (2x a day). He has managed to nurse successfully which is such a blessing to his dear weary parents.

As you can imagine, this is an incredibly overwhelming situation for any family but is made even more so as they are so far from home and family in the US. In fact they were already scheduled to be moving back to the US on January 9th, 2018 and will be settling in Grand Rapids, MI near Kate’s family.

Now that they have a glimmer of hope that Ethan is going to recover, they are beginning to feel the weight of the growing medical bills, which currently are estimated to be over $30k. Ethan will not even be able to be discharged until his medical expenses are paid in full!!!! Can you even imagine???? Well I can’t!

I know so many of you have asked how you can help and right now there are two ways. Obviously your prayers are making huge waves and causing miracles. The other is through financial gifts.

I have set up the GO FUND ME campaign to help raise funds to cover the following expenses for The Chisum Family:

1. All current & near future medical expenses for Ethan in Jordan & US.

2. Upgrade for travel expenses, as Ethan will need special care and potentially have special medical equipment for traveling back to the US in a month’s time.

3. Health Insurance for Ethan once they return to the US as this is not covered under the current plan they have.

4. Ongoing expenses for the family’s resettlement once they return to the US.

As you can imagine resettlement after living abroad is stressful enough but add to it a new baby with major medical challenges seems beyond overwhelming. We hope to bless Ryan & Kate with stability and hope and shower them in God’s loving kindness towards them. They have sacrificed a lot as a family as they served God abroad in hard places; loving on the people around them in their daily life and we want to show them they are seen. Thank you for your continued prayers for Ethan that his condition would continue to improve and that the doctors would be able to identify what is causing his lungs to struggle so much.

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Donations 

  • Nicole Collins
    • $339 
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

Jennifer Chisum Land
Organizer
Ellensburg, WA
Ryan Chisum
Beneficiary

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