We are starting this gofundme because many people have reached out asking how they can help support the Demler family during this time. More than anything, Jake and Natalie are asking for continued prayers, love, and encouragement for baby Ezra to make a full recovery.
As Ezra continues to fight every day with his parents by his side, the medical bills are adding up quickly. Both Jake and Natalie have not been able to return home and have remained in the hospital since 2/20 when Ezra was born. There is absolutely no expectation, but for those who feel the desire to do so, we wanted to offer a simple way to help ease some of the financial burden for them as well.
Below, Natalie and Jake have shared a beautiful sentiment to Ezra's story thus far.
EZRA - meaning “God Helps”
Time stood still when Ezra Eugene Demler was born into the world on Friday, February 20th 2026 at 2:12pm, at St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay. He weighed 7lb 4oz and was 20 in long. My labor and birth was beautiful - I had vividly envisioned every detail and dreamt about meeting him for the past 9 months. We had candles around the room, played peaceful Christian music, diffused a perfect blend of essential oils, and I labored standing, swaying and breathing through every contraction for nearly 6 hours, as Jake was encouraging me the entire time. It was beautiful, raw, and sacred. At one point, just minutes before he was born and as I thought I couldn’t endure anymore, Jake reminded me there was a time that we didn’t think this day would ever come, and we were about to finally meet our son. After experiencing 3 consecutive losses, one of those being our sweet Emmett, and navigating a high-risk pregnancy, we could not wait for this moment of meeting Ezra face to face. So loved, so cherished and so long-awaited. The moment he was placed on my chest felt indescribable; absolute Heaven on Earth. We soaked him up that first night and it was a night we will never forget - little did we know how our lives would soon change forever.
Unfortunately, at only 22 hours old, Ezra attempted to nurse and went completely blue and limp in my arms from total lack of oxygen. The minutes following felt like an eternity. His breathing had been labored and strained from the moment he was born and I knew in my gut something wasn’t quite right. I didn’t set him down that first night, and thank God I didn’t. He was deep suctioned multiple times during his first day of life because the doctors and nurses believed he had swallowed too much fluid during birth. After turning blue in my arms, the nurses rushed in to save him and he was admitted to the NICU soon thereafter. Emory, Everett, and Elsie were thankfully able to meet their baby brother just briefly before he was taken to the NICU. Those sweet moments of being together as a family of 6 and having everyone piled on the hospital bed will forever be etched into the core of my being.
Over the course of the next 12 days, the medical team there monitored his heart rate, respiration, and oxygen levels 24/7 and fed him through his NG tube. They ran numerous tests on his heart, lungs, brain, and he was scoped, X-rayed, and contrasted to figure out what was going on. His medical team also tried different sized instruments in his nose to try opening up his airway. During all of this, we watched him struggle, panic to breathe constantly and in so much pain. It was excruciating to watch as his parents, and to feel so helpless. We prayed over him, cried, and pleaded with his team and with God to help him and to heal his little body. We are very appreciative of everything the team at St. Vincent did for Ezra to find an answer, but after ruling out so many potential problems, they determined it was best to be transferred to the NICU at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee, to be seen by some of the best pediatric ENTs in the country.
On March 3rd, Ezra arrived via ambulance to the NICU at Children’s Hospital. Upon arrival, he was met with a full team of doctors and nurses who were ready for him and the process began to find an answer for our strong and brave little boy.
He underwent so many tests and procedures yet again, all while we met with doctors and specialists from the NICU, ENT, cardiology, respiratory, radiology, genetics, audiology, ortho, plastics, speech, occupational, physical and music therapies, and also met with the Child Life specialist and psychologists from the NICU to support and help our family cope.
Ultimately, Ezra was diagnosed with a mild form of Pierre Robin Sequence, which means his jaw is slightly undersized pushing his tongue back and restricting his airway. In addition to his Mild PRS, he also has laryngomalacia which is floppy, unstable tissue above his vocal cords.
The ENT doctor also confirmed via the scope that his vocal cords are not fully functioning, which hinders his ability to control his airway. All those factors do not allow Ezra to suck, swallow, and breathe. To have all of these issues happening at once makes Ezra a very unique case.
The hope initially was that Ezra could avoid any invasive surgeries simply by allowing him to grow. But after several weeks with little to no improvement, the team called an in-person care conference with Jake and I this to discuss next steps.
Because of multiple factors, the best and truly only option to help Ezra was to perform a tracheostomy. Having a trach will allow him to bypass the problem area in his airway so he is able to breathe freely and without struggle. His surgery was done on Friday, March 27th and the ENT doctor, and his entire team, did a phenomenal job. Ezra was so brave and courageous, and was recovering while in a paralytic state. The plan was for him to remain in the paralytic state for about one week while he healed, and then the process would begin for Jake and I to learn everything there is to know about our amazing son and caring for him at home. The full healing and learning process was supposed to take 5-7 weeks.
Unfortunately, about a day and a half after his tracheostomy surgery, Ezra had a horrible infection take over his entire body and went into septic shock. The Dr. and so many drs from other teams tried to keep him stable with oxygen and medications but his condition only worsened. He needed an emergent surgery to be put on ECMO, because he was maxed out on support in the NICU. ECMO is a specialized life support machine that acts as an artificial heart and lung, and pumps blood outside the body to remove carbon dioxide and add oxygen. ECMO allows organs to rest and heal, so can he fight this awful infection. Ezra was moved to the Cardiac ICU floor here at Children’s following his surgery early Monday morning on 3/30.
His team in the Cardiac ICU has been phenomenal and working tirelessly around the clock trying to help our son. They are pulling in experts from every team/unit and it’s currently all hands on deck to try and help Ezra.
It’s been so difficult to navigate this unimaginable road. Our hearts break for Ezra that he has to endure all of this pain and suffering.
We are desperately needing continued prayers for TOTAL healing for Ezra. And for God to bring our family back together.
We have seen and felt so much love, support and prayers flooding in. So many of our dear friends and family have been carrying us and lifting us up while we go through the hardest time in our lives. While the road ahead is still uncertain for Ezra and our family, we feel hopeful for what’s to come. We know that we serve an amazing God. He does not abandon us during the storm, but He guides us and carries us when we cannot even walk ourselves.
Praise Jesus for the gift of our Ezra Eugene!!!