As some of our close friends and family already know, our amazing and deeply loved 4 month old son Toby was diagnosed with a condition called CPAM. CPAM stands for congenital pulmonary airway malformation. CPAM is an abnormal development of tissue within the lungs. The abnormal tissue forms lesions which can vary in size and don’t function as normal lung tissue does. CPAM is not genetic nor is it caused by any environmental factors. Its occurrence is quite simply random. It affects about 1 in every 7200 babies according to NIH.

We found out about Toby’s diagnosis about halfway through the pregnancy. Throughout the rest of the pregnancy, Toby required a lot of extra monitoring to make sure that the CPAM remained stable, didn’t grow too big, and didn’t compromise his respiratory and cardiac function in any way. Luckily, everything went smoothly and Toby was born without any complications or need for any respiratory support. He is currently a very happy and thriving 4 month old. During the pregnancy, our medical team had explained to us that even if he presented without complications at birth, the protocol with CPAM is to remove the abnormal tissue via surgery several months after birth. The reason for this is that if it’s not removed, the CPAM can be at risk of getting infected or becoming cancerous later in life. Surgical outcomes are generally excellent with most babies experiencing perfectly normal lung development after the affected tissue is removed.

That brings us to today, as we prepare for Toby’s surgery, scheduled for August 27th. We expect to be in the hospital with Toby for 3-5 days after his surgery for monitoring.

We are turning to our community to ask for financial support as we already know that the costs of the surgery and hospital stay will be significant based on the estimates we have received. To be transparent, even though we have health insurance, we have already spent over $8000 this year on all of the extra prenatal care needed during the months of monitoring, and knowing that we will owe at least another $8000 for the surgery, while also losing wages during the time we will be in the hospital, we are feeling somewhat beaten down by the hellscape that is the American healthcare system. Of course, we are so grateful for the expert medical care Toby has received, and want more than anything else for our son to be healthy and safe.

It is difficult for us to make this ask. There are so many children and families in the world who are suffering currently. We sit in gratitude for all we have. We have so much love for our friends and family who have already shown us incredible support through this journey into new parenthood. We are deeply grateful for anyone who feels compelled to contribute here in any amount. Thank you so much <3

-Ally, Chris, and Toby Wardlaw