My Name is Tim Kozina and I am going to be running my first "official" half marathon. On October 10th of this year the event will take place in the Long Beach, CA. As I personally have never been much of a runner, I am never one to shy away from a new accomplishment I can add to my life's fitness journey.

This, is all besides the fact, as the true reason I am creating this video, is to provide support to my good Friends John and Bianca Kranz, and their baby boy Brett Aaron Kranz.

Brett was born prematurely on Oct 25, 2020 at 27 weeks gestational age. For those that are not familiar, the range for a pregnancy that is considered normal is between 38 to 42 weeks. That is almost a full 3 months before the normal time frame.

 

Brett was born at just 400 grams, which is less than 1 pound. At around 19 weeks, John and Bianca became aware of Brett's growth restriction. A series of tests, known as amniocentesis was performed to rule out any genetic anomalies. Brett was below the 1 percentile and measuring weeks behind his gestational age.

 

After discovering a reverse flow in Brett's umbilical cord and a placenta deficiency, the doctors informed John and Bianca of the severity of the situation and that a fetal demise was a possibility at any point. At that point, the doctors agreed that for Brett's best chance of survival, he needed to be at or around 1 pound. This was because a breathing tube may not fit in a baby any smaller. As time went on, Brett's growth rate was declining and the fear of him reaching a viable weight was becoming more of a concern.

 

On Oct 22, at around 26-27 weeks gestational age, they had discovered Brett had some miraculous growth and was right near the viable weight he needed to reach, but at the same time it was confirmed that Brett would need a heart surgery, which made his survival likelihood even lower than it already was. That same night, they were admitted for constant monitoring and to start a magnesium sulfate drip and steroid injection to expedite Brett's brain and lung development. The treatment would take 48 hours and the doctors expressed how crucial this treatment was for his survival after delivery. 3 days later, miracle baby Brett was born. 6 months later, Brett would finally be officially discharged from the hospital.Brett has had to be administered with oxygen until the 10 month mark when he became oxygen free.

 

Over the course of the last 11 months, Brett has had to have continuous oxygen flow (which he has finally tapered off as times gone on), eye surgery a multitude of tests, blood transfusions, constant doctors office visits that resulted in lots of medicated shots and injections to Brett. With the constant support of family, friends, prayers and continuous miracles, Brett, John, and Bianca have seen positive progress and small victories that have a bigger impact than one could only imagine.

 

On Saturday September 6th, just one day after Brett's very first beach day, John and Bianca noticed some sudden changes in Brett's stomach. With a terrible gut wrenching feeling, they went to the ER, where an X-ray, ultrasound and blood work was completed.

 

This is when they received more heart breaking news. Tests showed a large mass in Brett's liver. Brett was diagnosed with a very rare liver cancer called Hepatoblastoma, which to put into perspective, affects only 2 to 3 people out of every 1 million. There is an even greater risk for premature babies born at a birth weight like Brett was. The tumor is taking up 3 out of 4 lobes on Brett's liver. Since then Brett has started a chemotherapy treatment plan before and after the recent surgery to place a Hickman catheter to deliver chemo and IVs to Bretts body.

 

As Brett, John, and Bianca look to take on this new challenge, I will be dedicating my entire journey to train and complete my first half marathon to Brett's treatment plan. I have started this GoFundMe to raise proceeds that will go entirely to the Kranz family for all of Brett's past and upcoming treatments, as this miracle baby looks to conquer yet another one of life's challenges.

 

If you or anyone you know would like to donate to this as well as provide any type of resource to the Kranz family on your own experiences, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

You can follow Bretts journey more closely by going to Biancas Instagram page 

 

@mynameisbiancaa