Check out Beckett in the Trexo on Fox4

Beckett’s CP Journey

Birth

On August 16th, 2017 - and at 28 weeks pregnant with Beckett - Kristen was taken to the hospital due to mild bleeding. What started as passing concern quickly escalated into a full blown emergency and before we knew what to think, Beckett Charles Gibson was born at 3lb 2oz on August 17th.

NICU and Early Days

As traumatic as an emergency c-section was, we were reassured by his positive progress in the first couple of days. But within the first week of life, Beckett would suffer his second emergency. His picc line ruptured through his vein causing his outer lung cavity to quickly fill with nutrient-dense TPN fluid. On the very first night that we spent away from the NICU, we got the call that doctors had had to place a chest tube in order to drain the fluid around his right lung. That trauma erased the progress he had worked so hard to make and sent him back to a needing ventilator to breathe. We became slaves to his oxygen monitor and lived in constant anxiety as it dipped below the optimal threshold causing the alarms to go off before (usually) rising slowly and hovering right above the number the doctors and nurses considered "safe". Those days were rough.

In all, Beckett spent 103 days at the Dallas Presby NICU. On November 30th, we got the green light to bring him home. For a while, we felt “normal,” but in the following year, we slowly started to notice missed milestones. After therapy seemed to be failing, we sought out a neurologist. An MRI was ordered and it showed damage to his brain known as periventricular leukomalacia or PVL. Two months before his second birthday, we finally received a diagnosis of cerebral palsy.

Exploring New Technologies - Trexo

Since then, Beckett has done countless - COUNTLESS - hours of physical and occupational therapies but progress is slow if at all. The treatments that have given us the most hope are, of course, deemed “experimental” by insurance and seldom covered. We’ve spent, on average, about $30,000 per year on therapy and medical equipment and expenses since Beckett was born. Which brings us to Trexo.

Hopefully you were able to watch the news story that featured Beckett and Trexo. This piece of equipment has given us the first glimpse of Beckett taking a natural stride. While chances he will ever walk unaided are still unknown, this technology is the best thing that we’ve seen to offer his brain a way to understand walking and perhaps over time forge new neural networks that will allow Beckett to regain some degree of independent mobility. There is nothing else on the market today that even comes close. That said, it requires a significant investment which is why we’ve had to forcefully step out of our comfort zone to create this fundraiser.

About this Fundraiser

Please know that we want no feelings of obligation to donate. We do our best to be good stewards of what we have so that we can still enjoy our lives despite the financial burden that comes with a special needs kiddo. But because of the significant investment required for this particular piece of equipment, we’re putting ourselves out there to ask for help.

All funds received from this fundraiser will go towards Trexo’s leasing program. It costs about $15,500 per year to lease the equipment. If we raise enough to cover all three years of the lease, then we will own it outright!

To learn more about Trexo Robotics, check them out here or on their Instagram page .