Hi all, we have been made aware of people hearing our story and being interested in continuing to bless our family by donating.
We originally created this GoFundMe after much convincing by family so that we could raise enough money to help cover bills and travel expenses for the month so that both Holston’s parents could be present for his brain surgery and all other medical care related to the surgery.
For those of you who are new here, Holston Wren is a living testimony to the miracles God can perform. While respecting Holston’s personal and medical privacy, I will do my best to fill you in on his story.
Holston Wren is a very smiley, happy, and sweet 6 month old, who was diagnosed at 19 weeks gestation with a birth defect called myelomeningocele Spina Bifida.
We were given a very grim outlook on his diagnosis since initially there were also suspicions of Trisomy 13 or 18 which are genetic conditions that are considered “incompatible with life”. Because of this, we were told to expect either a stillbirth or for the baby to live a maximum of a year in a hospital with extreme complications. We were also told that on the off chance that it wasn’t genetic that our child would have no quality of life since they claimed he was already paralyzed from the waist down and would be severely mentally disabled.
With the help of countless prayers and by the hands of God, Holston continually proved doctors wrong. Despite the doctor’s confidence in his diagnosis, the genetic test came back completely normal ruling out Trisomy 13 and 18 as well as all other genetic abnormalities.
Following this we were in a race against time to seek a second opinion and attempt to qualify for a risky and rare procedure to help improve our unborn child’s life. Because of the complexity of his defect and the rarity of the surgery, we took a leap of faith and packed up our family to head 5.5 hours from home not knowing what would come next or when we would get to return home. In the span of a few days, we had many tests run and met with world-renowned specialists and by the grace of God we qualified for fetal surgery, however, it would need to be performed in three days or we would pass the deadline.
The date of surgery came around and after a tedious 7+ hour long surgery we were to stay within close proximity of the hospital and we were to be closely monitored by medical professionals at multiple appointments and scans a week. And at 27 weeks life-threatening complications arose and we were admitted to the hospital for the rest of the pregnancy.
Holston Wren made his arrival at 30 weeks when a web of amniotic bands had wrapped around his umbilical cord and nearly cost him both his life and leg. He was resuscitated shortly after his arrival and was transferred to the NICU where he remained for the next 82 days. During his stay, God continued to work miracles in Holston’s life every time a complication or concern would arise and our itty bitty Holston continued to defy all odds with many nurses and doctors being baffled by his mobility and progress that he was making.
Though Holston is now out of the NICU and has overcome so much he still deals with the effects of his medical complexity daily with his three main diagnoses being MMC Spina Bifida, Severe Hydrocephalus, and Chiari Malformation; he has to be carefully followed by an army of medical professionals many of which who are far from home. On average we travel for Holston’s out-of-town appointments at least 3-5 days each month (sometimes twice a month) and we juggle a few appointments weekly as well.
All this to say, God is good and Holston Wren is one of the cutest and most precious proof of this fact. And to answer some people's questions, yes we still welcome and appreciate donations through this GoFundMe because as you can imagine being displaced from home and work for right at half a year while piling up medical bills and travel expenses puts a great financial strain on our family and definitely makes it more complicated for both parents to be present for important appointments and surgeries.
Again we thank everyone who has donated and those who continue to pray for our family! We truly can never thank you all enough and we cannot thank God enough for the divine timing of everything thus far and for all that he has done and continues to do for our family!
You can also help out by donating to Holston’s diaper fund: