Liam’s road home

Baby Liam Is In the NICU. Can you help?

My brand new nephew, Liam, is in the Providence NICU. He is a handsome, sweet, curious little baby, but he is sick and we don’t know when he will be going home, but it could be months. My brother, Will is a Firefighter for the City of Fairbanks and his wife, Heather, is a disabled Air Force Veteran. Very early in their relationship they knew they wanted to start a family. Based on Heather’s health conditions, it took a great deal of time and patience to conceive little Liam and he is our family’s precious miracle.

Will and Heather have already had to drain most of their savings in order to travel to be with Liam and maintain their household while paying for living expenses in Anchorage. Medical insurance “should” cover most of Liam’s care specifically while he is in the NICU, but the cost of his care for follow-ups, therapies, and specialty visits for the remainder of his life is currently unknown and could be insurmountable. Will and Heather need help supporting Liam medically and developmentally, covering travel expenses that have already occurred as well as future travel, and living expenses during the NICU stay.

The details of Liam’s story is below. Thank you so much for helping my brother and his family.

William “Liam” Riley Vogt was born on 7-27-22 at 11:41 in the morning. By 11:42 he was at the beginning of a long, challenging fight for his life. Due to an unknown birth complication Liam was born acidotic and was without oxygen for an unknown amount of time during birth. Although he received the best care at the NICU in Fairbanks, it was determined that he needed further, more advanced care and required an emergent medivac to the NICU at Providence Children’s Hospital in Anchorage. As they were preparing Liam to fly to Anchorage, he had a seizure event, which further indicated he needed advanced care. Liam, and his dad Will arrived at Providence Hospital within 7 hours of his birth. Heather was able to join her family about a day later but required a medical escort in order to be discharged from the hospital.

From the start, Liam’s care has been exceptional at the Providence NICU. He underwent 3 days of cooling therapy which protected his brain while the care team evaluated the extent of possible damage, and began treatments. It was evident fairly early on that Liam’s challenges were due to the single birth event and were likely not congenital. Although he has had some minor setbacks, he continues to improve each day and impresses the nurses and doctors.

Liam has been seen by several specialists and undergone many specialized scans and tests. He continues to improve and change daily but still requires oxygen and a feeding tube.

While the Providence staff are amazing and his needs are medically met he still brings the challenges of newborn life with the addition of working around tests, check ups, tubes, and wires. The stress of the NICU comes in addition to normal life continuing at home. Studies have shown that NICU babies recover and are discharged more efficiently when they have consistent, in person support from parents and loved ones. Heather will remain in the NICU with Liam until he is discharged and Will plans to stay as long as he can. Although Will had saved leave and had some paternity leave, the time is quickly approaching where he will need to return to work and would like to be able to travel freely to see Liam and Heather in the NICU, should the need arise.

With the unknown recovery timeline Liam faces, Heather and Will knew they needed financial support from the community when they had drained most of their savings within just a couple weeks of Liam’s time in Anchorage. So many people have wondered how they can help in this time of need. Contributing to Liam’s GoFundMe so his parents can stay with him while he recovers is a great way to help. Thank you.