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Pray for Ja'Kobe

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This is my son Ja'Kobe, he was born May 16th, 2014 @6:16am at CHKD in Norfolk, VA. He was born with Gastroschisis, a birth defect which his intestines never went inside of his stomach. At 6 hours old he had his 1st surgery where they had to remove 75% of his lower intestines because they were twisted in the womb and the lack of oxygen caused them to become severely damaged and die. Unfortunately because he was so young they were not able to keep him open long enough to reconnect everything, and as bad as it may sound they had to put everything back in with hopes to straighten it all out and clean it up later on when he was bigger. In July he was diagnosed with MRSA, and moved to an isolated room with other babies who were also diagnosed with MRSA in the NICU. He then had his 2nd surgery on July 31st at only 2 months old. This surgery was when they planned to straighten everything out, clean it up, and reconnect his intestines. Unfortunately his lower intestines nor his bowel grew at all as we had expected. Ja'Kobe only has 15cm of small intestines, and he should have at least 80cm, and he only has 10cm of bowel, and he should have 30cm. He now has what is called short bowel syndrome or Short Gut. With him having so little lower intestines and bowel, the chances of him surviving are less than 50%. That is unless he has a transplant, the one down fall that many people don't know is that when you receive a transplant you are one medication for the rest of your life. He will start off on 25 medications and eventually he will only be on 3. These medications are immune suppressants, they will increase his chances of cancers, viruses, and other illnesses, but more importantly they will help his body accept the new organ. (Without them his body would reject the organ, and, well it could be fatal). At 3 1/2 month old Ja'kobe and I went to Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, where he had a transplant assessment done. They took lots of blood, did all kinds of x-rays, ultrasounds, barium enemas, anything you can think of he had to go through, and he did it all with a smile. He didn't come home until he was 5 1/2 months old. Ja'Kobe came home on October 30th 2014 on TPN, and with a G-Tube. His G-Tube is for draining only, which almost acts as a colostomy bag. The TPN is what he gets all of his nutrition through. Because Ja’Kobe had so little intestines he was not able to process foods or formula so he was unable to eat until he had his transplant.  Although we had to make a generous amounts of trips to the ER him being home was/is such a blessing. He and his sister get along very well, and he is the happiest baby I know.  I tell you all that, to tell/ask you this. Ja'Kobe received his transplant on Feb 19th 2015 at 9 months old. Him & I are now living in DC for the next 3-4 months & I have had to take a leave of absence from work. Ja'Kobe will have two doctors appointments each week, and they have to watch him VERY closely. We are starting a fundraiser to raise money for the medications that he will be on for the first year, and daily living expenses that we cannot cover while I am currently out of work. His father and I are very hardheaded and independent people but we can't do this one on our own.
Any little thing will help, and we thank you so much in advance!!
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Donations 

  • lamont
    • $50 
    • 8 yrs
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Organizer

Coco Surratt
Organizer
Virginia Beach, VA

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