Let’s help Alex and Corey during a very difficult time. Alex is currently pregnant and got some devastating news about their sweet baby.

“Yesterday we got news no parent wants to hear. Buckle up.

Our sweet little baby got diagnosed with an abundance of unexpected complications. We had a 20-week anatomy scan, where they found an abnormality in the heart. Immediately, we were referred for a fetal echo in San Francisco.

We got to the echo, and they told us they didn’t see any abnormality. So we got a sense of relief. Fast forward to our 30-week growth ultrasound. We go in expecting the standard 30-minute scan. Nearly 2 and a half hours later, staring at the look of worry on our tech's face, she says the doctor will be in soon. Claims that she’s just having a tough time getting a good scan because of the baby’s position. But we knew what it meant.

After about a 20-minute wait, the doctor came in and told us that she feels like the baby has an abnormally large heart. As well as they found a mass in the left lung classified as a CPAM. She expressed to us that a CPAM itself is generally benign; a lot of them resolve on their own as the baby develops further. But there is a risk it can evolve into something called hydrops or a type of lung cancer called pleuropulmonary blastoma. All required surgery after birth. All with their own set of complications. We will now be closely monitored for this. Ultrasounds every 2 weeks and a surgical team consult.

The next day I received a call from the San Francisco fetal echo specialist, telling me he doubts there will be much change, if any, to the heart. But he is still willing to do the echo for a sense of relief. We go in for yet another supposed to be 30-minute scan. Another 2 and a half hours later, they say that they’re done, but they need to go review the scans and do some measurements.

Corey and I again sit there, another 20 minutes of silence feeling totally numb. She comes in and immediately states she found quite a few defects. Anxiety absolutely set in.

She spends roughly the next 30 minutes going through her findings and doing her best to explain to us, in ways we would understand, what was going on.

The findings:

Aortic valve stenosis;

This is a deformity in which the aortic valve is smaller than it should be for the current gestational age, causing a narrowing of blood flow to the aortic arch. The arch is the vessel that pumps blood to the baby’s body.

Hypoplasia of the ascending transverse aorta;

Which she described is why one side of the heart may seem abnormally large. Basically, the blood flow is too much input for not enough output.

Coarctation of the aorta;

Which is another vessel narrowing of the heart.

All classified as congenital heart defects, heart disease, and heart failure. All also requiring surgery.

Everything moved crazy fast after that appointment. We were told we will not be able to have the baby in Santa Rosa. That San Francisco is an option, but there’s a large possibility that the baby would have to be airlifted to Stanford, and if that happens, I will not be able to go with him. So they are pushing for us to go to Stanford altogether. 17 calls later and we are still unsure of a plan. We now have 2 surgery consults. An appointment every 2 weeks to look at the lung. An appointment every 3 weeks for the heart. All of our OB appointments in between.

We are still trying to make sense of it all”—Alex

They will have to relocate their family for over 3 months and still cover expenses for their home while they are facing a battle for their baby's life as she undergoes multiple surgeries right after birth. Alex is a self-employed incredible tattoo artist, so that means she does not get any disability or paid family leave from the state. Please consider donating to this family of 4, soon to be 5, through this incredibly difficult and scary time.