Help Alice and Family through Heart Surgery

The last year has been a wild ride, with a lot of time in hospitals.

When our beautiful blended family came together, we did not anticipate some of the challenges awaiting us. The 20-week ultrasound of our daughter Alice showed a critical congenital heart defect. Then Bruce began having seizures.

Baby Alice was born on March 15 with tetralogy of Fallot, pulmonary atresia, discontinuous pulmonary arteries, and tracheal stenosis – keeping her and her mother, Kristin, in the ICU for much of her first months of life. Meanwhile, Alice's father, Gavain, has been caring for her brother Bruce with his seizure disorder and other medical conditions under evaluation. After several months at home waiting and growing, it is now time for Alice's open heart surgery.

The slide tracheoplasty and cardiac surgery together are projected to take 20 hours. Given the complex nature of the operations, it is hard to say how long the recovery time will be. Alice is strong and enjoys life, so we hope to have her home again soon.

It has been difficult for us to focus on generating income to sustain our family throughout this period of hospitalizations, emergency department visits, medical appointments, and close at-home monitoring. Our full-time work has been caring for our youngest children with their complex medical issues. It may still be months before their health is stabilized.

Alice and Kristin have already been staying in semi-isolation near the children's hospital for several weeks in preparation for surgery while Gavain cares for 3-year-old Bruce, as well as older sisters Sigrun, Tillwyn, and Sofie. Having our family separated is hard.

Please help Alice and our family through this critical period around her heart surgery. We hope to raise $5,000 to cover living expenses so that we can continue to dedicate ourselves to the well-being of our children while Alice makes a full recovery.

Thank you for your support!

Kristin and Gavain