Hi! Meet Lucas!  Lucas was born with a very rare and serious congenital heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, meaning that the left side of his heart never delevolped.  For him to survive he would need to have a  3 stage open heart surgery. First one being at 3 days old, second at 4 months old and the third at 18 months old.  Unfortunately he will need more surgeries in the future, because there is no cure. Since Luke's 3rd open heart surgery he has had mulitple heart catheterizations. For the past year he has had a chronic wet cough and has been diagnosed with Croup multiple times, which would land him in the ER. As time went on Luke's health had started to deteriorate, and home treatments stopped working,  he was frequently sick and has not been gaining weight. On January  12th, 2017, Luke took a turn for the worse.  He started vomiting and coughing up blood. He was rushed  to the ER and was admitted at Helen Devos Childrens Hospital. After several tests, HDVCH decided it would be in Luke's best interested to be transfered via ambulance to U of M Mott's Childrens Hospital, where several more tests were done.  There Luke was diagnosed with tracheobronchomalacia, two dangerous bacterial infections in his lungs and two viral infections in his sinuses. They believe Luke has a Chronic lung disease, but doctors are still trying to narrow it down to the correct diagnosis. They also believe he has an immune deficiency,  but will not have any more information on that until February 24th, when we meet with the specialist. He is also scheduled for a Heart Cath this Friday February  17th at Motts Children's Hospital at U of M. In the mean time they have him on a strict treatment at home with several new medications, inhalers and a lung clearance machine called Hill Rom The Vest Airway Clearance System. So far this treatment has really helped improve his cough and breathing.  The problem is insurance will not cover this machine that he desperatly needs. They are asking for the parents  to pay the $16,487 for the machine or return it and with all the missed work Luke's mom and dad have  missed and with the overwhelming about of medical bills, along their regular bills, it has made it impossible for them to be able to pay for this machine. Any little bit would help and if you can't donate please share aand say a prayer for this sweet boy . Thank you and God Bless.