Liam's Heart
Donation protected
The morning of January 25th, our family was SO excited to meet Matt & Kelly’s new baby boy, Liam. Matt and Kelly both love children and planned to spend some quiet moments that afternoon introducing their 2-year-old daughter Lily to her new baby brother—just the four of them. The grandparents were assembled in the waiting area with Lily running amok.
The C-section went smoothly, but it was immediately clear that Liam was in trouble. He had a collapsed lung and something was wrong with his heart. Kelly only got to spend a brief time with him before he was CareFlighted to Children’s Medical Center, where he was admitted to the Cardiac ICU and subsequently diagnosed with a monocuspid aortic valve with aortic stenosis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Matt & Kelly’s parents, brothers, and cousins dropped everything and went to Children’s to offer love and support. And YOU--their amazing friends, co-workers, and acquaintances have prayed thousands of prayers, left hundreds of messages, donated gift cards and brought the last month’s worth of meals. I don’t think a family has ever been more loved.
For Matt & Kelly, the last month has been a roller coaster ride of risky medical interventions, high hopes, prayers, tears, recovery and setbacks, carving out time for a toddler, hours of driving, sleep deprivation and long, long hours at the hospital watching over their tiny son and meeting with doctors. They have been remarkably brave.
And baby Liam was improving! He had surgery that opened a heart valve, he was taken off the ventilator and the lines into his heart were removed. The medical staff starting showing Kelly how to provide some of his care so she would know how to do it at home. He would be coming home sooner than we thought! And so we started to relax a little and plan.
Until he had his first heart attack on February 23rd. Needless to say, Matt & Kelly were devastated and we were devastated for them. The “easier” path was off the table and things became significantly more complicated. It was decided that they give him another chance to heal on his own-unless he had another attack and then he would be put on the transplant list.
Tonight, February 27th, Liam had another heart attack. There are no words for this, so I won't really say much more. He is stable for now and the medical staff is monitoring him very closely.
This is Matt’s sister, Heather. I started this fund so that Matt & Kelly could focus on their baby and their little girl and not have to think about gas money, parking expenses, lost income, or the hefty insurance deductible. Let's raise enough money to cover Matt & Kelly’s bills and hospital expenses for awhile so they don’t even have to think about any of that.
Thank you all. For everything. And please keep praying for Liam’s heart.
The C-section went smoothly, but it was immediately clear that Liam was in trouble. He had a collapsed lung and something was wrong with his heart. Kelly only got to spend a brief time with him before he was CareFlighted to Children’s Medical Center, where he was admitted to the Cardiac ICU and subsequently diagnosed with a monocuspid aortic valve with aortic stenosis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Matt & Kelly’s parents, brothers, and cousins dropped everything and went to Children’s to offer love and support. And YOU--their amazing friends, co-workers, and acquaintances have prayed thousands of prayers, left hundreds of messages, donated gift cards and brought the last month’s worth of meals. I don’t think a family has ever been more loved.
For Matt & Kelly, the last month has been a roller coaster ride of risky medical interventions, high hopes, prayers, tears, recovery and setbacks, carving out time for a toddler, hours of driving, sleep deprivation and long, long hours at the hospital watching over their tiny son and meeting with doctors. They have been remarkably brave.
And baby Liam was improving! He had surgery that opened a heart valve, he was taken off the ventilator and the lines into his heart were removed. The medical staff starting showing Kelly how to provide some of his care so she would know how to do it at home. He would be coming home sooner than we thought! And so we started to relax a little and plan.
Until he had his first heart attack on February 23rd. Needless to say, Matt & Kelly were devastated and we were devastated for them. The “easier” path was off the table and things became significantly more complicated. It was decided that they give him another chance to heal on his own-unless he had another attack and then he would be put on the transplant list.
Tonight, February 27th, Liam had another heart attack. There are no words for this, so I won't really say much more. He is stable for now and the medical staff is monitoring him very closely.
This is Matt’s sister, Heather. I started this fund so that Matt & Kelly could focus on their baby and their little girl and not have to think about gas money, parking expenses, lost income, or the hefty insurance deductible. Let's raise enough money to cover Matt & Kelly’s bills and hospital expenses for awhile so they don’t even have to think about any of that.
Thank you all. For everything. And please keep praying for Liam’s heart.
Organizer and beneficiary
Heather Preston
Organizer
Plano, TX
Matthew Finklea
Beneficiary
