Heart Warrior - Ridge Carlton - Medical Bills

Ridge Carlton is a little ' Heart Warrior ' he has overcame some massive odds in his battle with Congenital Heart Disease

Leading up to Ridges birth, the Carlton family thought they were having a healthy baby boy. All doctors visits, scans & tests told them so. However, once in labor, the doctors quickly found out something was wrong. Ridge wasn't breathing. A team of doctors assisted with the birth & then Ridge was rushed up to the NICU floor.

Ridge would spend a few days in NICU, before doctors determined his case was far more advanced than this hospital could handle & had him transported to The University of Michigan Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ridge would spend 2 days at U of M, before he coded twice, flat lining. It took 17 doctors,nurses, specialists to bring him back to life. The room was filled as lights & tones went off. The scariest moments of the Carlton families life, as they sat back helpless in tears.

They were able to stabilize Ridge, but he had to then be rushed into Emergency open heart surgery late on a Saturday night, they had to call in doctors who were at the U of M football game to come in & assist.

Surgery was a success & Ridge spent the next month in the hospital, but that is just the start of Ridges battle as he has another major open heart surgery coming up soon & possibly several more after that

The Carlton family lived at the hospital the entire time Ridge was there, over a month. Missing work. Living expenses, loss of work & then all the specialty care Ridge requires, on top of travel expenses for monthly doctors visits which are almost all 1.5 hours from home, have caused bills to add up. Insurance doesn't cover every bill & they don't cover gas, lodging, food or loss of work. Ridges medical bills alone with insurance were near a million dollars, luckily the Carlton family didn’t have to pay all of that, but they were out of pocket thousands of dollars still

Ridge just had his second open heart surgery at U of M this week, with another lengthy hospital stay & lodging at $100 a night, the bills are adding up once again

Ridges little brother Cade (7) even decided this past summer he wanted to help the family out & started his own dog poop yard cleaning business.. he came up with the idea himself & with the help of his dad, traveled around to local yards cleaning up dog poop for money, which he asked if he could donate it to his brother

Another recent discovery is, Ridges mom, Koreyann has been diagnosed with a rare form of vascular cancer. She has already had two surgeries & will have more coming. Like they say, when it rains it pours & the Carlton family can't catch a break.

Any help is greatly appreciated & means the world to the Carlton family ❤️‍

Ridge Strong