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As many know, Samantha and Tayton Reese welcomed their second child into the world on April 27, 2020. They named their sweet little boy Kasher Todd Reese, and he is a spitting image of his dad!
On February 3, 2020, Samantha had a fetal echocardiogram on her baby because Samantha and Tayton's first child, Bexley, was born with a congenital heart defect and underwent heart surgery at just 3 weeks old in 2017. Unfortunately, they did find out that their second child would be born with another heart defect, this one different than their first child's.
He was diagnosed with Unbalanced AV Canal, an atrioventricular defect. Basically, the middle part of his heart hadn't developed, leaving a hole where blood was mixing. The defect caused the left side of his heart to be very underdeveloped.
Their baby was also diagnosed with CoArctation of the Aorta. Which basically meant there was a "kink" in a part of the aortic arch.
With Samantha's pregnancy being high risk, she would go to Omaha weekly for appointments with doctors, and it was decided that she would be delivering at Methodist Women's Hospital in Omaha.
Samantha was induced on April 27, 2020 at approx. 38 weeks and Kasher was born at 5:31 PM. She was able to spend just a little bit of time with him before they transported him by ambulance to the NICU at Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha. Kasher seemed to stay pretty stable in the NICU. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there were no visiters allowed, so only Tayton could be at the hospital with Kasher while Samantha stayed in the hospital after giving birth.
Several tests were ran on Kasher in preparation for surgery on his heart. Another defect was discovered that caused 2 of the 4 arteries that drain into the heart were not going to the correct place.
Kasher underwent open heart surgery on May 4, 2020 at 10:30 AM. The surgeons were able to save his left ventricle which was great news. However, there is a moderate leak on a valve on the left side of the heart. This is something that will have to be monitored to see if it will eventually need fixed with another surgery.
Before surgery, Kasher's heart was pumping 6 times more blood into the lungs than what should have been, which caused distress on the lungs, so he was put on a ventilator and other medications to regulate his body while trying to recover.
Kasher and his family have a long road of recovery, and Kasher seems to be showing some signs of improvement, but also some things seem to be getting in the way of progress right now.
Right now, Samantha and Tayton are having to alternate their time spent with Kasher at the hospital, since only one person is allowed there with him at a time.
We were wanting to go about fundraising in a different way, possibly where we could gather and enjoy each other's presence. However, with COVID-19, we feel as though this is the best option to keep not only our community safe and healthy, but our very fragile family as well.
Thank you all so very much for all the support so far!!
#HeartOfKasher
On February 3, 2020, Samantha had a fetal echocardiogram on her baby because Samantha and Tayton's first child, Bexley, was born with a congenital heart defect and underwent heart surgery at just 3 weeks old in 2017. Unfortunately, they did find out that their second child would be born with another heart defect, this one different than their first child's.
He was diagnosed with Unbalanced AV Canal, an atrioventricular defect. Basically, the middle part of his heart hadn't developed, leaving a hole where blood was mixing. The defect caused the left side of his heart to be very underdeveloped.
Their baby was also diagnosed with CoArctation of the Aorta. Which basically meant there was a "kink" in a part of the aortic arch.
With Samantha's pregnancy being high risk, she would go to Omaha weekly for appointments with doctors, and it was decided that she would be delivering at Methodist Women's Hospital in Omaha.
Samantha was induced on April 27, 2020 at approx. 38 weeks and Kasher was born at 5:31 PM. She was able to spend just a little bit of time with him before they transported him by ambulance to the NICU at Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha. Kasher seemed to stay pretty stable in the NICU. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there were no visiters allowed, so only Tayton could be at the hospital with Kasher while Samantha stayed in the hospital after giving birth.
Several tests were ran on Kasher in preparation for surgery on his heart. Another defect was discovered that caused 2 of the 4 arteries that drain into the heart were not going to the correct place.
Kasher underwent open heart surgery on May 4, 2020 at 10:30 AM. The surgeons were able to save his left ventricle which was great news. However, there is a moderate leak on a valve on the left side of the heart. This is something that will have to be monitored to see if it will eventually need fixed with another surgery.
Before surgery, Kasher's heart was pumping 6 times more blood into the lungs than what should have been, which caused distress on the lungs, so he was put on a ventilator and other medications to regulate his body while trying to recover.
Kasher and his family have a long road of recovery, and Kasher seems to be showing some signs of improvement, but also some things seem to be getting in the way of progress right now.
Right now, Samantha and Tayton are having to alternate their time spent with Kasher at the hospital, since only one person is allowed there with him at a time.
We were wanting to go about fundraising in a different way, possibly where we could gather and enjoy each other's presence. However, with COVID-19, we feel as though this is the best option to keep not only our community safe and healthy, but our very fragile family as well.
Thank you all so very much for all the support so far!!
#HeartOfKasher