As many of you know Cole suffered a stroke on May 7, 2025 after a marker punctured his throat and compressed his carotid artery. He spent a week at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital before coming home. From there he was placed on blood thinners and began physical therapy. He developed a pseudo aneurysm from the trauma of the injury to his throat which required regular cat scans to monitor. His doctors placed him strict restrictions not to do any sports included riding his bike to protect him from any further damage or possible bleeds. They also restricted him from traveling more than 30-40 minutes from the hospital resulting in him missing many family events. He has fought and pushed himself to recover with the anticipation that he would be off blood thinners in November and return to a somewhat normal childhood. Unfortunately we discovered that his last scan in November showed the pseudo aneurysm had doubled, nearly trippled in size. After evaluations from his team of doctors and tests we found out that the only option was to do a carotid arterial sacrifice to block off the pseudo aneurysm to prevent it from growing. On January 19, 2026 he underwent the 2 hour surgery and it was successful. He will continue to recover for the next few week and then return to his physical therapy twice a week. I have been a stay at home mom for almost 3 years now and before Cole’s accident in May my husband and I decided I would return to work after the summer at least part time. Cole’s recovery, frequent doctor’s appointments, and twice a week therapy has made it difficult for me to return to work. Chad has been the primary caregiver and financial provider for Cole and our entire blended family for over 3 years. He works tirelessly at work and takes every overtime opportunity he can sometimes working 12 hour days 6-7 days per week.

Any donations will go to help our family get through this difficult time. We thank everyone that has been here since the accident helping us navigate this new normal for us, Cole, and the girls. This past year has been one of the worst we have faced and we thank everyone who has been along for the ride.