Our "big baby" Lorenzo's Fight for Life
Donation protected
Hello friends and family of Erin and Handro,
We are starting a gofundme page to help with the costs of traveling and being away from home for the next few months while Erin and Handro stay at Ronald McDonald house to be close to Lorenzo.
They have 2 young children Eliette and Vincent who need care during the week and traveling them back to Hamilton to see their parents. This was an unexpected emergency that left them having to change plans with those last few weeks of work and taking leave for both Erin and Handro.
Things like yard work, child care, groceries, travel and house expenses are some things that would be a helpful contribution for the next 2-3 months for their family.
Shared from Handro's Facebook
On behalf of Erin Fernande and myself, I would like to announce the birth of our third child, Lorenzo Armando Croce! He was born on May 20th at 4:13am, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Weighing in at 6lbs 5oz and measuring 18". He looks like a perfect mix of Vincent and Eliette's features, and has tons of dark hair.
He came out fine, and gave out the cutest little cry. Shortly after, when they had him on the cleaning table, we heard them call a code Pink. This meant that he was having trouble breathing. They intubated him in the OR and took him to the NICU with a dedicated team, and we went into the recovery room for Erin's C-section.
While in recovery, we spent a while looking for answers but received none. A couple hours later, the attending pediatrician at the NICU came by and told us that he was very sick. That he had a lung that could collapse, and it was not looking good for him. There were a few other emergencies within minutes of his, which was an extremely rare occurrence, so McMaster sent out a transport team in order to get Lorenzo out to Hamilton as fast as possible, since Grand River was in over their heads. Everyone was preparing us for the worst. They were not hopeful that he would survive the transport to Hamilton.
They let me go into the NICU at Grand River while they were preparing to transport him, and brought him by to see momma when they were ready to go.
Erin got to see him for a short minute, and they promised to text her when he arrived at McMaster.
He did very well during transport. I followed, to be with Lorenzo while Erin waited for an OK to be transferred of care to McMaster.
While I was at Lorenzo's side, the surgeon at the NICU informed me of the extent of the damage.
Lorenzo has what doctors call CDH, which stands for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. It wasn't identified in his 19-week ultrasound. This means that sometime in his early development, the hole in the diaphragm that every baby has, did not close, allowing his intestines and part of his bowel and stomach to grow upwards into the chest cavity. This caused his left lung to go underdeveloped, and his heart and right lung to be pushed to the side under a lot of pressure. He has also developed Pulmonary Hypertension because of this.
It's been quite the battle since he was born, being born at a Tier 2 hospital, without the proper tools to treat his missed and undiagnosed condition. Since arriving at McMaster, he is under High Frequency Oscillator Ventilation (HFO), Nitric Oxide, Epinephrine, Fentanyl, Midazolam, Prostaglandin, and a plethora or other medications.
He's had too many setbacks in the last 24 hours, that he's now fully sedated, with top-ups for any sort of handling. This is after almost stabilizing and being lucid and responsive.
The goal right now is to get him stable enough for surgery, and the conversation is not on the table yet, as there are too many variables that are keeping it hour-by-hour. He is still very critical.
He surely is a fighter. He has a temper, which shows whenever they try to do something he doesn't like. Before sedation, he would respond to our voices and our touch, and open his eyes to try to find us. He is called the big baby in his area of the NICU since most other babies are preemies.
We are so thankful for all the teams of nurses, residents, fellows, RTs and attending doctors, they've all been so amazing at taking care of our very sick little man and giving us so much information in a way that we are able to fully understand. And allowing us to actively take part in his daily care, by doing little things like changing his diaper or taking his temperature. Never thought that doing these things would make us so happy. Erin got to kiss him for the first time yesterday, and I did today.
Thank you for everyone who has been reaching out so far. We feel the love and cannot express how much it's meant to us. We feel so vulnerable since it's something that we never thought would happen to us. We are currently living at the Ronald McDonald House beside McMaster. We were told it would be months. So far Eliette and Vincent are adapting to these changes with the help we've received so far, but it's a long road ahead.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and for sending us your love and positive vibes.
Love you all,
Erin, Handro, Vincent, Eliette and Lorenzo ❤️
We are starting a gofundme page to help with the costs of traveling and being away from home for the next few months while Erin and Handro stay at Ronald McDonald house to be close to Lorenzo.
They have 2 young children Eliette and Vincent who need care during the week and traveling them back to Hamilton to see their parents. This was an unexpected emergency that left them having to change plans with those last few weeks of work and taking leave for both Erin and Handro.
Things like yard work, child care, groceries, travel and house expenses are some things that would be a helpful contribution for the next 2-3 months for their family.
Shared from Handro's Facebook
On behalf of Erin Fernande and myself, I would like to announce the birth of our third child, Lorenzo Armando Croce! He was born on May 20th at 4:13am, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Weighing in at 6lbs 5oz and measuring 18". He looks like a perfect mix of Vincent and Eliette's features, and has tons of dark hair.
He came out fine, and gave out the cutest little cry. Shortly after, when they had him on the cleaning table, we heard them call a code Pink. This meant that he was having trouble breathing. They intubated him in the OR and took him to the NICU with a dedicated team, and we went into the recovery room for Erin's C-section.
While in recovery, we spent a while looking for answers but received none. A couple hours later, the attending pediatrician at the NICU came by and told us that he was very sick. That he had a lung that could collapse, and it was not looking good for him. There were a few other emergencies within minutes of his, which was an extremely rare occurrence, so McMaster sent out a transport team in order to get Lorenzo out to Hamilton as fast as possible, since Grand River was in over their heads. Everyone was preparing us for the worst. They were not hopeful that he would survive the transport to Hamilton.
They let me go into the NICU at Grand River while they were preparing to transport him, and brought him by to see momma when they were ready to go.
Erin got to see him for a short minute, and they promised to text her when he arrived at McMaster.
He did very well during transport. I followed, to be with Lorenzo while Erin waited for an OK to be transferred of care to McMaster.
While I was at Lorenzo's side, the surgeon at the NICU informed me of the extent of the damage.
Lorenzo has what doctors call CDH, which stands for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. It wasn't identified in his 19-week ultrasound. This means that sometime in his early development, the hole in the diaphragm that every baby has, did not close, allowing his intestines and part of his bowel and stomach to grow upwards into the chest cavity. This caused his left lung to go underdeveloped, and his heart and right lung to be pushed to the side under a lot of pressure. He has also developed Pulmonary Hypertension because of this.
It's been quite the battle since he was born, being born at a Tier 2 hospital, without the proper tools to treat his missed and undiagnosed condition. Since arriving at McMaster, he is under High Frequency Oscillator Ventilation (HFO), Nitric Oxide, Epinephrine, Fentanyl, Midazolam, Prostaglandin, and a plethora or other medications.
He's had too many setbacks in the last 24 hours, that he's now fully sedated, with top-ups for any sort of handling. This is after almost stabilizing and being lucid and responsive.
The goal right now is to get him stable enough for surgery, and the conversation is not on the table yet, as there are too many variables that are keeping it hour-by-hour. He is still very critical.
He surely is a fighter. He has a temper, which shows whenever they try to do something he doesn't like. Before sedation, he would respond to our voices and our touch, and open his eyes to try to find us. He is called the big baby in his area of the NICU since most other babies are preemies.
We are so thankful for all the teams of nurses, residents, fellows, RTs and attending doctors, they've all been so amazing at taking care of our very sick little man and giving us so much information in a way that we are able to fully understand. And allowing us to actively take part in his daily care, by doing little things like changing his diaper or taking his temperature. Never thought that doing these things would make us so happy. Erin got to kiss him for the first time yesterday, and I did today.
Thank you for everyone who has been reaching out so far. We feel the love and cannot express how much it's meant to us. We feel so vulnerable since it's something that we never thought would happen to us. We are currently living at the Ronald McDonald House beside McMaster. We were told it would be months. So far Eliette and Vincent are adapting to these changes with the help we've received so far, but it's a long road ahead.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and for sending us your love and positive vibes.
Love you all,
Erin, Handro, Vincent, Eliette and Lorenzo ❤️
Give $50 to help get this fundraiser to its goal
Fundraising team: #bigbabylorenzo (2)
Amanda Trudeau
Organizer
Kitchener, ON
Erin Fernande
Beneficiary
Liliane Fernande
Team member
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