Mighty Mark’s Medical Expenses
Donation protected
Dear Family and Friends, this is a story of God's goodness in our lives and the most significant hardship that our young family has ever been through. The Lord has taught us that we are not strong enough in ourselves and all we can do through our trials is put our trust in Him. He is in control of all things, and He will be glorified even through the hardest of times. As Christians, we should always be looking to honor Him and expand His kingdom even through hardships.
In 2015, we found out we were blessed abundantly with our first child. We believe our highest calling in life is to raise godly children to advance His kingdom. Jon and I have both always dreamt about becoming parents, so needless to say, we were ecstatic! Jon and I prayed and researched about doing a home birth with a certified midwife. The pregnancy, labor, and delivery of our son Timothy were such a dream, we couldn't wait to have another pregnancy and birth with our midwife and friend, Robin, and her team.
In March of 2018, we found out we were expecting our second baby, and he was due on Christmas. We couldn't wait to be a family of four! We were so excited to plan another home birth with Robin. Jon and I had visions and plans that this birth would go similar to Timothy’s.
A little after midnight on December 22, my water broke. We were going to meet our precious baby soon! Robin was called, and I labored throughout the day without any complications with Jon, Robin, and two other certified midwives as support.
Soon after our baby's head was out, one of the midwives realized the baby had shoulder dystocia and needed to call 911.
At 7:05, our precious Mark was born not breathing and without a heartbeat. CPR was performed for 2 minutes before a pulse and breathing started. Mark was transferred to St Marys where they started cooling therapy right away. This cooling therapy is to help prevent or minimize any brain damage.
Mark was transported to Children's Hospital of Orange County where they specialize in cooling babies and treat babies that are born in these kinds of circumstances. The plan was to cool him for 3 days, then an MRI to see what damage there was to Mark's brain and shoulder.
The results showed very mild damage in the brain and no nerve damage in his shoulder. He was diagnosed with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) or neonatal encephalopathy.
In our early stages in the NICU, some of Mark’s struggles were no suck or gag reflexes, blood sugar issues, low and high muscle tone, not being able to move his left shoulder/arm at all, breathing on his own, and a seizure.
Mark has made an incredible improvement. In the NICU, he began breathing on his own, his blood sugar stabilized, muscle tone, gag and suck reflexes improved, he regained movement in his shoulder and arm, and to date, there have been no more seizures.
We have started meeting with a physical therapist for Mark's arm and a feeding therapist to work on Mark's eating by mouth. In the NICU he was eating minimal amounts by mouth, and we had to be discharged with a peg/gtube. Since being home, he is doing much better eating by mouth.
We do not know what the future holds for Mark in terms of a “normal” life, only time will tell. We hopefully should know the full extent of his condition in 2-5 years. No one in the High Desert is comfortable treating an infant HIE injury so our foreseeable future will be lots of long-distance doctor follow-ups with GI and Neuro doctors, Brachial Plexus clinics, and physical, and feeding therapy trips from Apple Valley to Orange County and Redlands one to two times a week.
If you feel led to help financially, some of the things we will need financial help with are gas, co-pays, therapy, and medication. Our insurance will only pay for 120 days of prescriptions and 40 therapy appointments. Early intervention is crucial to Mark’s long term success.
If you are unable to help financially, we ask that you would keep our family in prayer. Prayer for wisdom and encouragement for Jon and I. Prayer for complete healing for Mark. Prayer for encouragement and understanding for Timothy. If you feel comfortable doing so, sharing with your friends and especially your church families.
As challenging as this situation has been, we recognize God has blessed us abundantly to be Mark's parents. We realize we serve a sovereign God and know that God has a plan for Mark’s life through this trial.
We are humbled with the abundance of support, prayer, and financial help from our family and friends. We cannot say thank you enough, we could not have done this without all this.
In the 38 days, Mark was in the NICU, we got to stay at the Orange County Ronald McDonald House. They supplied us with a private room with a bed and shower, a stocked refrigerator and cupboards for food, and a ride to and from the hospital at any hour of the day or night with only a donation of $10 a day. Without the OCRMH, we would not have been able to be close to Mark and help with his recovery. We will be giving any extra donations to OCRMH to hopefully bless another family.
In 2015, we found out we were blessed abundantly with our first child. We believe our highest calling in life is to raise godly children to advance His kingdom. Jon and I have both always dreamt about becoming parents, so needless to say, we were ecstatic! Jon and I prayed and researched about doing a home birth with a certified midwife. The pregnancy, labor, and delivery of our son Timothy were such a dream, we couldn't wait to have another pregnancy and birth with our midwife and friend, Robin, and her team.
In March of 2018, we found out we were expecting our second baby, and he was due on Christmas. We couldn't wait to be a family of four! We were so excited to plan another home birth with Robin. Jon and I had visions and plans that this birth would go similar to Timothy’s.
A little after midnight on December 22, my water broke. We were going to meet our precious baby soon! Robin was called, and I labored throughout the day without any complications with Jon, Robin, and two other certified midwives as support.
Soon after our baby's head was out, one of the midwives realized the baby had shoulder dystocia and needed to call 911.
At 7:05, our precious Mark was born not breathing and without a heartbeat. CPR was performed for 2 minutes before a pulse and breathing started. Mark was transferred to St Marys where they started cooling therapy right away. This cooling therapy is to help prevent or minimize any brain damage.
Mark was transported to Children's Hospital of Orange County where they specialize in cooling babies and treat babies that are born in these kinds of circumstances. The plan was to cool him for 3 days, then an MRI to see what damage there was to Mark's brain and shoulder.
The results showed very mild damage in the brain and no nerve damage in his shoulder. He was diagnosed with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) or neonatal encephalopathy.
In our early stages in the NICU, some of Mark’s struggles were no suck or gag reflexes, blood sugar issues, low and high muscle tone, not being able to move his left shoulder/arm at all, breathing on his own, and a seizure.
Mark has made an incredible improvement. In the NICU, he began breathing on his own, his blood sugar stabilized, muscle tone, gag and suck reflexes improved, he regained movement in his shoulder and arm, and to date, there have been no more seizures.
We have started meeting with a physical therapist for Mark's arm and a feeding therapist to work on Mark's eating by mouth. In the NICU he was eating minimal amounts by mouth, and we had to be discharged with a peg/gtube. Since being home, he is doing much better eating by mouth.
We do not know what the future holds for Mark in terms of a “normal” life, only time will tell. We hopefully should know the full extent of his condition in 2-5 years. No one in the High Desert is comfortable treating an infant HIE injury so our foreseeable future will be lots of long-distance doctor follow-ups with GI and Neuro doctors, Brachial Plexus clinics, and physical, and feeding therapy trips from Apple Valley to Orange County and Redlands one to two times a week.
If you feel led to help financially, some of the things we will need financial help with are gas, co-pays, therapy, and medication. Our insurance will only pay for 120 days of prescriptions and 40 therapy appointments. Early intervention is crucial to Mark’s long term success.
If you are unable to help financially, we ask that you would keep our family in prayer. Prayer for wisdom and encouragement for Jon and I. Prayer for complete healing for Mark. Prayer for encouragement and understanding for Timothy. If you feel comfortable doing so, sharing with your friends and especially your church families.
As challenging as this situation has been, we recognize God has blessed us abundantly to be Mark's parents. We realize we serve a sovereign God and know that God has a plan for Mark’s life through this trial.
We are humbled with the abundance of support, prayer, and financial help from our family and friends. We cannot say thank you enough, we could not have done this without all this.
In the 38 days, Mark was in the NICU, we got to stay at the Orange County Ronald McDonald House. They supplied us with a private room with a bed and shower, a stocked refrigerator and cupboards for food, and a ride to and from the hospital at any hour of the day or night with only a donation of $10 a day. Without the OCRMH, we would not have been able to be close to Mark and help with his recovery. We will be giving any extra donations to OCRMH to hopefully bless another family.
Organiser
MJ Boesch
Organiser
Apple Valley, CA