
Perseverance "Penny" Tate
Donation protected
When someone asks you what tattoo shop you should go to in Bryan-College Station, 9 times out of 10, you will hear Arsenal. Audrey Tate is one of the many reasons why you get that answer.
I personally met Audrey when I asked the great book of faces if they knew any artists in town who may be open to tattooing for cats. The number of people who recommended Audrey does not surprise me... now that I know her. Audrey's heart can be evidenced through the countless hours of work she has donated to not only cats, but also to help cover brands of human trafficking victims. Her heart and generosity are endless, so now we need to have her back the way she has had all of ours'.
Audrey, Glen, and Levi welcomed their newest teammate, Penny, on March 11th. While they were prepared for complications given information from early anatomy scans, Penny's condition was more severe than expected. She has been on this earth for 10 days so far and hasn't seen the outside of the hospital just yet.
The family isn't sure if Penny will remain in the hospital for 3 weeks or 3 months. What they do know is that she is in the most skilled and capable hands in the nation, and they are beyond grateful for that.
This is where we come in! Let's help The Tate Family not have to worry about anything other than being with their sweet Penny and giving her everything she needs to PERSEVERE.
Words from Dad:
"Along with her down syndrome diagnosis there are potential related health concerns which can arise. We'd confirmed an AVSD which is a septal heart defect that is very common for T21 babies. Her AVSD is what's referred to as a "balanced" one which means it's relatively simple to correct as heart defects go. We were emotionally prepared that she'd need heart surgery at 4-6 months old but it isn't immediately life threatening and we'd expected to take her home on a normal timeline.
What we didn't anticipate was a weak left chamber in her heart. She was delivered at Texas Children's Hospital, which is the absolute top pediatric cardiac center in the nation so when I say that no one there has ever seen this in a newborn and that no one there has any idea what could have caused it or why her function was normal in all of her prebirth anatomy scans, it should give you some idea of how scary this has been. The doctor who has been most direct with us about the situation said that had she not been born in a hospital with a level 5 NICU and she hadn't had her first ECG exam when she did, she probably wouldn't still be with us.
The latest is that after steroid treatment, drugs and breathing support, her heart function is back to near normal. There is further genetic testing going on and doctors from every related field are looking for clues as to the cause for the loss of function but in the meantime they have been slowly but steadily able to ween her off of support after support. She is no longer intubated and is on steadily lower doses of all of her drugs without resurgent loss of heart function. We don't anticipate her home for at least another week but things are looking hopeful.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank goodness for Texas Children's.
Every child deserves this level of care."
Organizer and beneficiary
Mallori Girard
Organizer
Bryan, TX
Audrey Tate
Beneficiary