Support Colton's Heart Surgery Journey
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- Many of you, like me don't know Colton Kahn. But you likely know his mom, Naomi, with her warm, bubbly personality. She often can be found sitting ringside at a dog show visiting with strangers who won't be strangers for long. That's how we met. Fast forward to dec/Jan 2023. Colton began having acute, severe cardiac episodes landing him in the ER in severe distress multiple times. After extensive testing, a preliminary diagnosis of trucuspid regurgitation was made. Essentially his valve no longer works properly and therefor his heart cannot function. Initially, the docs thought this might be a genetic condition, but as a baby, Colton had had a full cardiac workup due to some other new born findings. It would have been detected then, so this is a new, acute condition. Sacred Heart in Spokane, after being evaluated by their specialists, gave Colton 2 options, both highly undesirable given his young age and his very active lifestyle. One option would have involved replacement surgery every 5 years while if he had a mechanical valve, he would have been on blood thinners for life. Naomi and George had a lot to think about and undertook some research of their own. They found one surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in MN that has a super success rate at repairing these surgically. The only surgeon in the country doing these. So a lengthy, exhausting and expensive trip began, and it was extremely rough on Colton. Good news was that the surgeon agreed he was a good candidate. Sadly, his cardiac condition had been now upgraded to severe. No words a parent wants to hear. Surgery was scheduled for October when they began their trip home, leaving them some time to save for the extensive and continuing out of pocket expenses. However, they soon received a phone call moving the surgery up to August 19th, great news as his cardiac condition was deteriorating. So George and Naomi have already incurred incredible expenses due to extensive travel to seek the best answers for Colton, missed work, hotel stays, etc but they will have additional medical bills as well. They have had other numerous hardships. George is working out of state to allow more income. There are no "extras" currently, no meals out, trips, fun things to distract from this terrible time. Naomi is running her business as best she can with George gone and Colton often unwell. Colton has never questioned or lamented his condition. He is a fighter and hitting it head on, hoping soon to be back to his very active lifestyle and school, which means the world to him. He is an incredibly bright kid. In closing, Naomi didn't want to do this page. I told her this is what GoFundMe is for. When I asked them their "goal", Naomi very modestly said she wanted to have money to make sure they could make some memories along the trip to the Mayo, some fun stops and meals and adventures. I am calling it "Colton Cash". However, any additional donations towards the many expenses will be very much appreciated. It's tines like this that we need our village to be there for Colton. His surgery will be Monday the 19th and we ask that you all keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
Co-organizers (3)
Jennifer R Sparks
Organizer
Athol, ID
Naomi Kahn
Beneficiary
Naomi Kahn
Co-organizer