A New Face For Finley

Meet 10 year old Finley Murray! She’s pretty cute, right? You may be wondering why she needs a new face... Actually, more specifically, a new face and skull. Today, August 16th, Finley is undergoing a major surgery at CHLA where she will be getting that new face and skull. Fin will be in surgery for at least 8 hours and will undergo the following procedures; Facial Bipartition Monobloc with midface distractors and maxillary/mandibular microimplants, Bilateral Frontal Orbital Advancement and a revision of her prior surgery scar (feel free to Google, it’s a little scary). Her recovery will require up to 2 full weeks at CHLA, 3 months of rest at home and then a follow up surgery in November to remove the extractors. 

The Back Story

Finley was born with Isolated Bicoronal-Craniosynostosis. A rare birth defect that causes the sutures (or soft spots) of a baby’s skull to fuse in utero. The premature closing of the sutures makes the eye sockets and forehead flatter as the rest of the skull compensates by growing taller. Without surgical intervention, children with this birth defect are at risk for brain damage, loss of vision and hearing, and a host of other complications in addition to looking not quite like everyone else. There is no known cause for this type of birth defect. Fin has a milder form of what August in the book/movie “Wonder” had. This is the 3rd surgery Fin will be undergoing. The first 2 occurred when she was 10 months and 2 years old. 

How You Can Help

As you can imagine, this is an immensely costly surgery. Finley’s parents have already spent their savings and lost their home due to the first round of medical bills. While the Murray’s do have insurance their deductible is a whopping $48,000.00 (and no, that is not a typo). Since neither Chris or Kristi’s employments offer insurance, they are self insured and not eligible for Covered California. Insurance with a lower deductible is cost prohibitive. Please help the Murray’s chip away at their deductible and help defray the cost of their medical bills so they can focus on getting Finley well and back to playing tennis, volleyball, singing and piano playing!