We are Matt and Liz, and we have a beautiful 2 year old boy. Our little guy was born full term and sweet as ever. In the coming weeks, his weight dropped dramatically for no apparent reason other than having a virus at the time. During our second hospital stay, our little babe got a feeding tube placed and we were told many babies need feeding tubes placed for short times when their bodies are working extra hard to fight off viruses. The consensus was he would likely need the tube for a short period of time, maybe a few weeks or months. Other than this feeding bump, our little munchkin has developed normally and met all of his milestones. With the help of a handful of occupational therapists and speech therapists we’ve seen him improve so much! Yet, here we are over 2 years later still dependent on tube feeding to get him the calories he needs. Luckily for us, our guy loves food, but we need the right program to further aid our success. We’ve been recommended a 8 week intensive feeding therapy program where 5 unique specialties team up and focus on his specific needs to succeed in calorically sustaining himself. This program has a very high success rate and he is the perfect candidate. Since bringing him into the world, and going though a couple hiccups you just have to jump through as a parent when your child has unique needs, we quickly found out how much power insurance has in the medical realm. Most often, our son has received the care he needs. But, we are in a pickle when it comes to this specific 8 week intensive therapy program to help him continue to advance in his oral motor skills. And in turn, our ability to wean off of tube feeding. In the insurance realm, due to our current feeding situation, our son is “nutritionally sustained” and there is no immediate threat to his health. Therefore, insurance will not cover a penny for our guy to complete this program. (Unfortunately doctors don’t really have the final say, insurance does). We’ve turned every stone, made dozens of phone calls, to try to find any way to get our foot in the door to this therapy program. Unfortunately, due to us not qualifying for Medicaid, and not having a diagnosis or disability, we are thrown to the wind in regards to insurance. We’ve even looked into and made several phone calls about a secondary insurance out of pocket, and if that could possibly cover this program. However, due to this being pre-existing , we’re pretty much out of luck there too. With all the phone calls we’ve had, we have been told there is an out of pocket option to void the insurance route, however it is a very hefty amount and we cannot afford this method. If you know any other parent who has a “medical baby” or a kiddo that sees a specialist or two, you know how proud they are of their kiddo for the smallest little wins! We’ve seen our boy overcome so many small wins, and we know in our hearts with the right help he can really soar! If you are able to financially contribute, we would be beyond grateful for your help!

Sincerely,

our little family of 3.