Help support baby Sophia Boland!

Hi everyone! So I have started this fundraiser in hopes of seeking support for my beautiful baby niece, Sophia. She is 9 months old and we have been  going through a very devastating and heart breaking time for the last 3 weeks. She is currently at the IWK Children’s Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the past week. It all started with a trip to the Janeway in St. John’s, where Sophia was diagnosed with RSV (this is a respiratory virus that affects the respiratory system in babies). She was in PICU for 6 days where she had to be on high flow oxygen because her oxygen levels were way below the normal range. She was dismissed from PICU and spent another 10 days on the general ward where she still continued to need oxygen support and they were continuing to examine and test why her oxygen levels were still low even after the RSV was gone. On Friday, March 16, it was decided by Sophia’s doctor that she would be medevaced from the Janeway to Halifax to see a lung specialist as well as having further testing. After several studies and testing done, and after having a CT scan, they discovered that Sophia has a very rare condition called Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations (PAVM). This is a condition that can be managed, but will mean multiple visits to Halifax for several treatments over time. Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations are rare vascular anomalies of the lung, in which abnormally dilated vessels provide a right-to-left shunt between the pulmonary artery and vein. This is why Sophia’s oxygen levels are so low. Over the next week, Sophia will be getting an MRI on Monday, on Tuesday she will be having a dye test, which will require sedation and intubation so we can get an exact picture of all the shunts and where they are. The doctors are going to try and close the shunts by embolization, which is done by inserting a catheter in the artery in the groin, which will go through her heart and out another artery to gain access to the shunt. Only the shunts that are large enough to be embolized will be closed, but the tiny ones will have to be closed at a later date once they grow larger. After her recovery, she will be reassessed and we will know more from there. This has caused a financial and emotional burden on Sophia’s parents. Her dad has to take time off work, and her mom is on maternity leave. Any money that will be raised will be kept in an account for future trips and expenses to bring Sophia back and forth to Halifax for treatments. Thank you so much to everyone for the support and continued support during this very difficult time for our family. We appreciate it so very much!

Thanks, 
Brittany