Leilah Noel's Medical Expenses
Leilah Noel Waltz was born full-term on Saturday, January 3, 2015. She was a healthy 7#, 2oz and 20.5" long. When she was born, the doctors noticed she did not "pink-up" and needed oxygen support immediatley. They also discovered she was born with an imperforate anus (no exit hole for her bowels) and multiple heart defects. Within hours of her birth, Leilah was taken to Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. On Monday, 1/5/15 (at 2 days old), Leilah had her first of 3 planned surgeries. The first was to give her an exit hole for her bowels, via a colostomy bag. The second will be her open heart surgery, when she is 4 months of age, to fix the defects of her heart. The third will be the 2nd part of her bowel surgery to give her an anus and remove her colostomy bag, at about 6 months of age.
Leilah also had genetic testing done to determine if she has Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome), which came back positive on 1/15/15. She will continue to have therapy treatments with OT, PT and speech to help her overcome some of the challenges she may face with Down Syndrome.
For the past two weeks, Larry and I along with our two older children, Autumn (4) and Parker (2), have been temporarily living at the Ronald McDonald house near Lurie Children's Hospital. What a blessing it has been to have this fabulous place to stay, so close to Leilah. Truly a "home away from home"!
We are hopeful Leilah gets discharged soon, so we can all be together and home in between her upcoming surgeries.
We greatly appreciate all of the prayers, love, and support we have received thus far, and also ask that you continue keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.
For those of you who have asked how you can help in other ways, this site provides a way for monitary support. All of the funds raised through this site will go towards Leilah's medical expenses. Any funds we end up not needing will be donated to the Ronald McDonald house.
Thank you all, again, for your love, support, and most of all prayers! They are helping!
