Support Baby Dean's Recovery: Medical Bills Relief

Venmo: @avery-nelson-

This sweet little boy has been through a lot in his 4 short months. He has been poked, prodded, held down, had tubes down his nose/throat, and so much more - but somehow he never stops smiling through it all. Dean has a light and positivity that is contagious and incredibly rare.

After a brief, but expensive, stay in the NICU at birth, he was given a clean bill of health. Then, around 2 months of age, Ethan and Avery noticed his oxygen was dipping dangerously low (into the 70s and 80s), especially when he was sleeping. It's been a long journey trying to figure it all out and getting to the root of Dean's low oxygen levels, but after 4 ER visits, 3 hospital admissions to Primary Children's, EKGs, ECHOs, multiple chest X-rays, an MRI of his brain, viral screens, blood work, metabolic testing, oxygen, and now a feeding tube, we have some answers and are finally on the road to healing.

During his last 6-day admission, a swallow study revealed that Dean was aspirating when he ate and his little lungs were filling with fluid, causing breathing difficulties. He was also working so hard and burning so many calories just to breathe that he got down to the 2nd percentile for weight. Dean hates his feeding tube, but it is allowing his lungs to heal. He will have another swallow study in a couple of months to see if the problem has resolved, and we will go from there.

Ethan is in school and working full-time. Avery works part-time so she can spend most of her days with Dean. They work hard, but these medical bills were unplanned and more than expected. Ethan and Avery are facing around $18,000 - $20,000 of medical expenses for baby Dean (that is their out-of-pocket cost, after insurance). Let's come together and help them out during this hard time! Thank you for contributing what you can. It means a lot.