Let’s help our newborn, Martin, breathe!
Hi everyone, we are David, Caro, Mia and soon to be born, Martin.
Our second child, Martin, is 4 weeks away from being born and his 3 ½ year old sister,Mia, can’t wait to meet him.
Recently, we learned that our baby has a condition called “Diaphragmatic Hernia”. This means his diaphragm has a malformation or a “hole” that allowed his intestines to enter his chest, causing his heart to be displaced towards the right side. As a result, his lungs have also been compromised; the left one is completely invaded by the intestine and it’s underdeveloped. The right lung is only 66% developed. At this point, I should probably mention that we live in Quito-Ecuador, 2,850m (9,350 ft) above sea level. Up here, it’s difficult to breathe with 2 fully developed lungs, imagine what our little baby will be struggling with from his very first second of life.
Course of treatment? Well, after being intubated immediately after being born, Martin needs to be placed in a ventilator that will be breathing for him. After he stabilizes, roughly 48 hours later, he will go into surgery in order for the doctor to “tidy up” his chest. The difficult part is what comes after surgery; the post-op. Imagine how helpless we feel as parents knowing that there’s physically nothing we can do to help our newborn. He is struggling with his underdeveloped lungs, learning how to breathe on his own. What started off as a diaphragmatic hernia, will develop into a Pulmonary Hypoplasia, a severe condition that on top of everything, will prevent our baby from spending his first Christmas at home since he will be in the Intensive Care Unit for approximately 4-6 weeks.
We come to you, dear donors, thanking you for taking the time to read and hopefully share our story. Secondly to appeal to your generosity towards our cause.
Given that Go Fund Me doesn't support funds withdrawal in Ecuador, my cousin, Eric, will be the person helping us out with the withdrawal and transfering the funds back tous, thanks Eric!
Thank you!
David & Caro
