Sean and Ashley Gori's Sweet Baby Mace

Ashley and Sean Gori were expecting the birth of their son on March 24, 2023. Baby Mace was in a sunny side position which means that head was down but facing forward, not sideways for normal delivery. This resulted in Ashley going through “back labor” the weekend after her due date. Ashley went to the hospital that Friday night but was sent home as she was not fully dilated and her water had not broken. On Saturday evening, Ashley’s water broke and she was admitted to the hospital. Baby Mace Gori was finally born by emergency C-section on March 27, 2023.

While in the womb, Mace suffered from a lack of oxygen/blood to the brain. Upon birth, Mace was unresponsive and rushed to the NICU. While in the NICU, Mace started having seizures. The NICU staff cooled Mace down to 92 degrees to help control the seizures and prevent additional damage to the brain. After 3 days of being cooled and on anti-seizure medication, pain medication and intubated, Mace was warmed to a normal temperature. The seizures were controlled by medication and Mace was slowly brought into the world by reducing some additional medication that he had been given.

Mace is diagnosed with moderate to severe HIE (Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy). This is a medical term that means brain injury resulting from too little blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain. The MRI shows that there is scattered damage on both the left and right sides of the brain resulting in issues in motor skill development. Most babies diagnosed with HIE risk having some form of cerebral palsy and/or epilepsy. Mace is at a high risk that he would develop these disabilities as he ages in addition to learning disabilities.

Mace is still in the NICU and receiving constant care. He undergoes occupational therapy twice a day as well as physical and speech therapies. He has been able to take a bottle but is not consistent in the amount he can consume via bottle. What Mace is not able to finish is fed through a feeding tube. Once Mace can consistently finish his allotted milk consumption without the feeding tube he can go home. We are hoping this will happen sometime in May.

Ashley and Sean are facing many financial challenges. Since the birth of Mace, neither one of them has been working resulting in no income coming in. Sean is just starting back part-time to help pay for the bills. Mace’s care in the NICU is averaging $15,000 - $20,000/day resulting in a hospital bill for Mace of close to $800,000. Insurance will pick up some of this, but Ashley and Sean still have to come up with out-of-pocket costs close to $15,000. Even once Mace is home, he will still need all the therapy that he received in the hospital. This is also putting a burden on Ashley and Sean’s purse strings. Some of you have already assisted Ashley and Sean financially and this is much appreciated. For those of you that are wondering what you can do to help Ashley and Sean, please consider donating. This can help ease the stress of the financial burden that Ashley and Sean are facing.