Monday July 14th our lives changed forever. My 3 year old nephew Silas became sick with unusual signs so Annie and Dillan decided to bring him to urgent care and he ended up being admitted to the hospital for monitoring. They suspected he had pneumonia but he was soon transferred to the ICU for heart failure and told he’s going to be airlifted to University of Iowa Children’s hospital. He has never had any heart issues or concerns, was always cleared at his wellness check ups with his heart sounding great and clear sounding lungs. So to say this was shocking would be the biggest understatement ever.

Since being at the University of Iowa, he was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy which is very rare. On Friday July 18th he was brought to the cath lab to have a heart catheter completed. However, this procedure never even started because his heart stopped while they were prepping. The amazing team of doctors gave poor little Silas CPR for 45 minutes. He miraculously survived and has had no brain damage or organ failure thanks to the amazing healthcare team that was by his side and for their quick actions of getting him on life support.

Thankfully his body was able to rest while he was on ecmo/life support and all his results were coming back good. Monday July 28th, he had open heart surgery to get an LVAD placed. Everything was looking great and the plan was to clean him and close him up Friday morning August 1st. But then he had a stroke during the night Thursday July 31st and we once again were thrown back 10 steps.

God gave us another miracle and he’s continuing to show his strength as he continues to fight. Silas’ body has been fighting him most of his life, working extra hard to simply breathe, unbeknownst to us all. And he continues to show us his strength throughout all of this! He is truly our little superhero and such a strong little fighter.

The goal has been and continues to be that his body gets strong enough so he can be placed on the heart transplant list and one day receive a new heart. He has a long road ahead of him and he will remain at the children’s hospital. Annie and Dillan will essentially be living in Iowa City throughout this whole time as well.

On top of all of this Annie is pregnant and her due date is September 9th. It’s not safe, given her 2 previous pregnancies, for her to be driving for long periods of time. So, she will now be delivering here in Iowa City as well.

So, we are asking for your support. Dillan will be going back and forth to home for work but Annie will be staying there. If you’re able to donate, the money would be going towards anything Silas needs, all the various expenses that go along with “living here” for the family and for all their routine bills. Otherwise we’re asking for prayers! Please pray for healing and strength for Silas and for a safe and healthy delivery for Annie amidst all of this. We need God to continue working his miracles!

Thank you all for the outpouring of love, support and prayers already!

- Meegan