Grey's Heart: A Family's Plea for Hope

Hello, my name is Doug. I’m a married father of 4, in need of a little help. In normal circumstances, this is at the bottom of our thought bucket in terms of things to do, but these aren't normal circumstances, and the bucket is empty. So here's our plea.

Meet Grey. She just turned 2 in October. In November, she got a chest cold and we took her to the ER. The doctor got an X-ray, didn't like what he saw, and ordered an ultrasound. And thank goodness he did. She was immediately transferred to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids. Upon arrival, and a proper echocardiogram, she was transferred to the Pediatric Cardiac ICU. That was on a Sunday. Two days later, it was decided that her condition was bad enough to warrant putting her into a chemically induced coma on life support, to help her be able to fight two different lung infections. She has since cleared the infections and is still on the ventilator.

A week later, with no sign of improvement and signs of continued decline, it was decided they could no longer give her the care she needed, and transferred her to Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, where we have been since. On December 5th, she was given a Ventricular Assist Device, which, in essence, is a bypass circuit for her left ventricle, to basically take it out of use. This device will remain implanted until they have a viable heart for transplant. At this time, we have no idea how long that could be. It could be next week, it could be 2 years from now before they find a match. Until then, she isn't leaving the hospital.