Meet James Charles Chekal. Born on Valentine’s Day. At birth it was noted that he had and extra little thumb. Other concerns were brought to the attention of healthcare providers by these wonderful attentive parents, that being a rectal malformation. Long story short, it was dismissed 3 times and he was sent home. Within 24 hours his belly became hard and distended, hadn’t pooped (lil opening had not one but 2 , neither big enough to allow stool of any sort to go through) . Austin and Kayla rushed to the ER and he also had anorectal malformation and was quite septic. An ambulance transport with NICU team down to UIHC NICU was necessary. Little guy was intubated and the hard work of reversing the sepsis had begun. In the early hours of Tuesday the decision was made to perform the necessary bowel surgery with a colostomy bag placed. Fighting Sepsis and having a major surgery is a lot to ask of a 4 day old baby.

Little James is such a fighter, but has a very long road, which will add up the medical expense of recovery. Any little bit of help this family can receive to offset balance and to keep the household running (time needed from work for both) as James writes his story would be appreciated.

Austin and Kayla are not the type to ask for help, but this little family needs it.