Support for Owen Carson

We have gone through some rough times during our adult lives, but the past 2+ weeks have been the most difficult... In March of this year, our son Owen was diagnosed with congenital heart disease and had an irregular valve in his heart. This diagnosis came from some odd symptoms happening at that time. Fast forward to the beginning of May, and what we initially thought would turn into a "normal" infection/sickness has become a much greater concern.

Owen came home from school on a Friday with a slight fever and was not feeling well. Over the weekend, he continued with the same symptoms until Tuesday morning (2 weeks ago), when we took him to the ER after running a severe fever for going on 5 days and intense body aches. He was admitted into Memorial Hospital that night; they ran many tests and labs and treated him with a much closer eye due to his heart valve. He was diagnosed with a blood infection. Over the course of 2 days at Memorial, he received treatment to fight off the infection. By Thursday, the doctors there were pretty confident it was Endocarditis and recommended that he get transferred to Valley Children's for more specialized care. He was transported up there that night. We spent the next 5 days at Valley Children's under close watch, receiving treatment for endocarditis. On Tuesday, 1 week after being admitted to Valley Children's, the cardiologist found a significant change in one of his other heart valves that had not been there previously. Due to the severity of his valve condition, Owen was airlifted to Stanford Children's Hospital that night. We have been at Stanford for over a week now, and he has received excellent care here. Owen's medical team is watching his condition very closely, and things have become a little more stable. He is still being treated for endocarditis as well as undergoing lots of tests and monitoring At this time, we know he will need to undergo heart surgery to fix the damage to his valve. There is no date set, and we do not have a timeline for when his treatment here will end.

We will be spending at least a month, more than likely 2, at Stanford for Owen's care. With that will come various expenses as well as medical costs. We are not the type to ask for help, but we have come to accept that this is something that anyone would need help with. Please know anything helps, and is much appreciated.

Much Love,

Matt, Stephanie, Owen and Makenna.