July 31st  ...
Our already terrible news recently became much worse... Kashton's condition is not only life threatening, but he may have to deal with chronic lung disease and respiratory stress disorder for the rest of his life. For those of you who do not know, Kashton survived life threateningly serious HELLP, a very severe form of preeclampsia, during delivery 9 weeks early. He is now 4 months old and still fighting for his life. A couple of weeks ago we met with his doctor in Lafayette and she said that he was not making anticipated progress. She felt that he would be better off at home with his family getting the love and nurturing of his family. We were so happy we would finally get him home! He was scheduled to have two operations (tracheostemy and feeding tube) at the only place in the state that does this. The night before he left to New Orleans, his blood gas results were terrible so they put him back on a ventilator which made him aspirate, making his condition much worse. Since his arrival in New Orleans and after a week of monitoring, the doctors spoke with us over the phone to express how poor of a situation he was in. He would now be having the tracheostemy surgery only and the feeding tube surgery would have to wait until he was more stable. The hospital will allow us to take him home only after he is well enough again. He must start the excrutiatingly slow healing process all over again, and in a much worse condition than he started out in. We are praying this is going to be sooner rather than later.

As his parents we will do anything in the world for him and our other children. I don't mind the idea of taking care of him for the rest of his life, so long as he has a happy and long life! What does bother me is the thought of him having to struggle or suffer even more than he has to because we cannot afford to provide a hospital like environment for him. Kashton will be extremely sensitive to the tiniest germs or slightest illness or infection. A common cold is a life or death situation for him. In order to ensure situations like that never happen Kashton will need extra special care at home for at least the duration of his young childhood and posssibly after. We are praying that he is able to make a full recovery one day, but until that day, if and when it comes, Kashton will need special attention, life saving equipment, constant care, and so much more. We are unfortunately not able to afford these things and are currently living in an older home, which can be cause for serious concern in more than one way.

Now that Kashton is so far away we must now make a choice, we either temporarily stay in New Orleans; leaving our daughter (3yrs) & son (2yrs) in the care of family, or we commute back and forth; which is not possible for us finacially. Our children are too young to accompany us to the hospital nor would they be very happy away from their home and all of their things indefinitly. We believe it would be best for us to move the whole family closer, especially since his doctors are in New Orleans and he will have many future visits. We would also be close in the case of an emergency. Not only would we be living much closer, but we would like to find a place without the health concerns of our current home. Kashton will also be needing his own room for obvious reasons. As you can imagine, there will be other unexpected expenses; such as a generator to provide electricity in an emergency. We were already overwhelmed finacially, struggling and behind. And now with Greg missing so much work recently, all of these things are financially impossible.

This brings us to humbly turn to our friends and neighbors for help. First and most importantly we ask that you pray for Kashtons health and our family every single day. We also ask that if at all possible for you to donate; please help us provide a long, happy and healthy life for all of our children, even just a few dollars makes an incredible difference, if we can get enough people to do so. We do understand that some people can't help monetarily but we ask that everyone please share this story with everyone you know! Tagging friends is a great way to make sure that they get this on their newsfeed. There is also a link for Twitter and email, our handle is @Kashtonsmommi . Even word of mouth helps. Please know how incredibly grateful we are to all of you for all of the support! God Bless you all!

Being a Mom is learning about strengths you didn't know you had, and dealing with fears you didn't know exsisted." ~Linda Wooten

      When Greg & I came to the decision that we would start this page, I knew that I had to take this opportunity, to also, spread awareness for Preeclampsia/HELLP.  Early recognition, diagnosis, & treatment is very likely what saved all of my pregnancies.  Please, if you know anyone who could potentially be affected , share this with them.  After explaining what Preeclampsia/HELLP Syndrome has caused in our life I will go over a few facts about these conditions.
     This is our 3rd baby & 3rd battle, both physically & emotionally, with Preeclampsia/HELLP Syndrome. Kashton is our newest little warrior of the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).  He is our 3rd child, born March 29th 2016.  He came 9 weeks early and weighed just 3 lbs.  Immediately Kashton was placed on life support. Meanwhile, I was still in surgery having over 15lbs of fluid suctioned from my abdomen.  It had been the worst case of HELLP/Eclampsia my specialist had ever seen.  Kashton has been in the hospital since he was born struggling with Respiratory Distress Syndrome that turned into Chronic Lung Disease.   After speaking with the doctor this morning, we now need to be prepared to provide his care at home  on oxygen (with a tracheostomy) to breathe, & a G-tube to eat.  His healing could take anywhere from months, to possibly even years.  We will be scheduling the 2 surgeries next week & he will have to be transfered to New Orleans for at least one of them.  In the meantime, we need to be getting his home & everything he needs ready for him before he comes home.
     Our 1st child, Annelise, was only 2lbs 4oz & 11 weeks premature. She had a 3 and a half month stay in the NICU  before she finally came home on a heart monitor.  Our 2nd child, Gregory, was lucky to have the shortest stay in the NICU.  My doctor was able to keep my condition better under control so that I could carry him longer & he was able to come home after just 4 weeks.  They are both now happy and healthy, 2 & 3yr olds.  Now, as I am sure any other parent would agree, we would endure anything that we had to for the sake of our children, and we personally have been doing everything that we can to stay strong and not ask for help. Unfortunately, after 3 pre-eclamptic pregnancies; ICU/NICU stays for all of us; specialists & medical equipment for Annelise; specialists & a kidney biopsy for myself; a separate hospital stay and minor surgery for Greg; and now for Kashton, future home medical equipment, doctors, and many more ongoing costs and treatments; one specialist after another, piling up.  We have come to a point where we recognize that we are quickly reaching the boundaries of our abilities to cope and stay positive. 

We are reaching out now to our friends, family, & surrounding communities to come together in prayer, for Kashtons good health, speedy recovery, & strength  for him and for the rest our family while we endure this time.  Your prayers and any contributions at all, are tremendously appreciated!  Any &  every bit of help  counts & can make a huge difference for us!  God Bless Everyone!!

The following are a few key facts about Preeclampsia:
*Globally, Preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and infant illness and death.  By conservative estimates, these disorders are responsible for 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths each year.
*Preeclampsia/HELLP survivors are at a higher risk for phsychological condition like postpartum depression/anxiety & PTSD.
*Preeclampsia is a life threatening condition, typically associated with high blood pressure, that affects both mother and child.  It occurs in at least 5-8% of all pregnancies .
*HELLP syndrome can be difficult to diagnose, especially when high blood pressure and protein in the urine aren't present. Its symptoms are sometimes mistaken for gastritis, flu, acute hepatitis, gall bladder disease, or other conditions. The global mortality rate of HELLP syndrome has been reported to be as high as 25%. 
You can see why it's critical for expecting mothers to be aware of these conditions and symptoms so they can receive early diagnosis and treatment.

We want to say thank you all in advance for anything you can do!  You all make such a positive impact not only in our lives , but potentially, in the lives of many others just by praying & sharing this story to your family and friends so that that we can spread awareness & get the word to those who are in a position to donate.

Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.

Sincerely,

Kashton's Mommy Sharon and Family