Help Grayson and Family Through This Crisis

My name is Megan, and I'm raising money on behalf of my family, something I never thought I would have to do.

My son Grayson has had a very arduous and tumultuous beginning to his very short life, even while being born full term, at 39 plus 1. Around the time of birth, Grayson suffered a stroke. He had a major ischemic stroke, called an MCA (middle cerebral artery stroke). I had to immediately undergo an emergency C-section to deliver him. Upon being delivered, he needed to be revived and resuscitated. Luckily, there was a neonatologist in the room because of complications to my C-section, and they were able to revive him.

Directly after being revived, he started to immediately suffer from prolonged and horrific seizures. He was taken directly to the NICU in Magee Women's Hospital, a level 4 trauma center for babies. Doctors were unsure if they could curb his seizures, which were severe and never-ending. At this time, we were contacted by the palliative neonatologist, trying to prepare us for the likely probability that my son would die.

After a few days of working tirelessly and around the clock, the team down in the NICU were able to curtail his most severe seizures. He continued to suffer from seizures, as well as desats (a drop in oxygen in his blood, having trouble breathing). He has now been in the NICU for a month, struggling and fighting with everything he has, to live and thrive.

Grayson is unfortunately going to be in the NICU for the foreseeable future, until he is stable enough to come home. He is learning to be able to eat by mouth again after suffering from his stroke, and we will likely be transferred to The Children's Place in Pittsburgh for longer-term care.

Joey, Grayson's father, has had to take off from work to not only help me recuperate from a complex and complicated emergency C-section but has also been my only transport to and from the hospital, due to said complications.

Unfortunately, we've exhausted almost all of our resources. We've completely obliterated through our thousands of dollars we've painstakingly been setting aside to have as an emergency for when Grayson was born. We live an hour and a half away from Magee and have only been able to drive down every other day to save some little money on gas. Grayson is soon not going to have a place to call home when he does eventually get discharged.

We desperately need help; to be able to provide for him a safe home: a home with running water, electricity, etc. We also desperately need money for fuel and food for travel to be able to have his mom and dad with him, and also for food when eventually transferred to The Children's Place. The direct and indirect costs of this journey pre- and post-partum are substantial when considering travel, lodging, meals, medical bills, and hospital stays.

We love our son, and this has been one of the most difficult things either of us have ever been through. We just want to be able to be with our son and take care of him; with Grayson also having the comfort of knowing that mom and dad are with him. Please help our family. Please help us be with our son through the scariest time in all of our lives. We cannot do this without support from you.

Thank you for your time and thank you in advance for your generosity and support for my struggling family.