Joseph Mach Cooley was born with a congenital heart defect called bicuspid aortic valve. It was discovered in September 2025 and over the ensuing months his condition worsened and the cardiologist said that he needed a procedure to open his valve.

On Thursday May 7th 2026, just weeks after his 2nd birthday, he entered the operating room. He fell peacefully asleep to the sound of his parents, Rebekah and Tommy, singing. Minutes later, his heart stopped. The team worked for 8 hours to stabilize him. He required a massive blood transfusion, open chest surgery, and life support on ECMO.

The next day he was showing signs of improvement and he went back to the operating room to remove the ECMO machine. The doctors were talking about removing the breathing tube after giving his body some time to rest overnight. Rebekah and Tommy were saying goodnight to Mach when they looked at the monitor and saw that his heart was failing again. His heart stopped again and he required CPR. The ICU and surgery team worked for two hours to rescue him. He required open heart surgery to place the cardiac life support, a pacemaker, and a pressure vent directly into the heart. Miraculously, he survived.

On Saturday, the team thought something was wrong and did a CT scan which showed that Mach had suffered a massive stroke that destroyed an essential part of his brain. His brain was catastrophically swelling. Surgery was not an option and his body wasn’t responding to the medications intended to bring down the swelling.

Throughout the night, his parents held his hand and sang him his favorite songs and read him his favorite stories.

On Mother’s Day, Mach was declared neurologically brain dead. His four siblings came to say goodbye. In that sacred space, there was love and heartbreak and an overwhelming sense of peace knowing that Mach had returned to his loving Father in Heaven.

Now Mach is preparing to donate his organs to other small children who have life-threatening illness. His gift gives his family hope and meaning as they prepare to face life with him as their guardian angel.

In the words of his mother, “Although our hearts are broken and we are devastated at the thought of life on earth without our sweet baby and his smiles and laughter, we know he is okay thanks to Jesus, and now it’s up to us to live in such a way that we can join him when it’s our turn. We love him so much and will always love him. I’m so proud of him”.

At the same time as this has been happening, recent job loss, medical bills, and economic downturn have taken its toll. Now the family is facing insurance out-of-pocket maximums, funeral expenses, and other expenses accrued as they have dropped everything to stand vigil at Mach’s bedside.

This fund is intended to ease their economic burdens and allow the Cooley family to focus on their grief. Thank you for your help. It means the world to this sweet family.