Support for Rory’s medical journey & treatment

Welcome to the page dedicated to our Rory Jude!

We’re so thankful to all of you for your undying support, help, thoughts, prayers, gifts, good vibes, etc. Though Rory seemed to be perfectly healthy at birth, despite an early entrance, he has since had several significant health issues & we still have limited answers as to why.

In March of 2022, we were lucky enough to bring Rory home from the NICU. Three days later, he stopped breathing, required CPR & was readmitted to the hospital, where he stayed in the PICU. It was found during his initial hospital stay that he had epilepsy. He was started on meds for seizure activity, discharged & was home once again…for a week.

Unfortunately, he has since been back to the hospital three more times. As of May 2022, Rory is still inpatient in the PICU & has been for over a month now. He’s had genetic testing, EEGs, a bronch, MRI & other extensive testing to determine why he is experiencing apnea (aka his breathing stops) & bradycardia (aka low heart rate.) All test results have come back normal—giving us no answers.

After being on a ventilator for a month, he had a tracheostomy on May 24th to get off the numerous sedatives and paralytic medications he had been on for the last five weeks. He is now vented through his trach and also has a g-tube in place for feedings.

Imaginably, managing working while caring for our older two children + spending time at the hospital with our warrior boy has been difficult. Additionally, we will be transferred to another facility specializing in infant breathing disorders for a second opinion. There is nothing further they can do other than management at our current inpatient facility.

With all that being said, there will be some serious medical bills coming our way from a NICU stay, several PICU stays, extensive testing, surgeries, etc., future bills for medical equipment, physician appointments, etc. Though we prefer not to ask for money, our current circumstances present a need. We humbly ask you consider giving to support our son & his medical journey/treatment.

We are so thankful for all of you—whether we are familiar or not & regardless of whether you can give!

If you cannot give, we ask that you consider sharing this page to bring about awareness of our cause.

Much love & thanks,

The Bruces

Tyler, Shawna, Hendrix, Pierce & Rory