Support baby Freya's Healing Journey

Hello, I've started a fundraiser for my son Cole Updike and Rylee Groom. Their daughter, Freya, was born with Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), also known as a hole in her heart. After spending 4 days in the NICU, she initially seemed to be doing better when she was sent home. However, she has been struggling to eat, experiencing fatigue and sweating. Freya has been unable to put on weight and continues to lose weight. Yesterday, Freya stopped eating completely, so Rylee took her to the doctor and found out that she is in heart failure. Freya was readmitted to the NICU in La Crosse. The hole in Freya's heart is not closing on its own as the doctors had hoped, causing her to build up fluid on her heart and lungs. This makes her heart work extra hard and causes her to lose weight as it's very hard for her to eat so they’ve had to place a feeding tube. The doctors are hopeful and are giving her medications to reduce the fluid in her heart and lungs. This will allow her heart to not have to work so hard when her body is trying to repair the hole in her heart. If it doesn't work, she will have to have open-heart surgery. Either way, they have a long road ahead of them.

During this time, Rylee is not working to be with Freya. Cole has missed work to be in the hospital with Freya and is not eligible for FMLA assistance. Looking to the future, the doctors have said that at the very least, Freya will have lots of doctor’s appointments. They are going to need help with the lost income to care for Freya and the cost of gas to get back and forth to doctor’s appointments as well as the medical bills and medications needed.