Support Wyatt Rhodes Luker

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill. To say that Wyatt Rhodes Luker’s journey has been tough, would be an understatement. Churchill's quote better defines the struggles Wyatt has been through in just his first few months of life. No matter the challenges he or his parents, Derek and Stephany, face, he continues to push on. Even though Wyatt has so far handled any adversities thrown his way, there are still some challenges that he and his family could use help on. That's what brings us to his gofundme page where you can donate to help support Wyatt’s medical journey. If he could speak, he would say thank you a million times over, but alas he’s just a baby. However, Derek and Stephany can and they want to say thank you, even if you can’t donate, thank you for being here and reading his story. They appreciate everything family and friends have done so far and what they continue to do.

This page will be used to keep updating people on his medical stay and to have a central location where his story can be heard. Below is his story so far. Thank you again for being here and caring for Wyatt.

On April 26th Wyatt Rhodes Luker was welcomed into this world. Wyatt’s journey at home was not the smoothest. He had been home for two weeks and he seemed to really struggle with feeding; he would choke or cough quite a bit. Wyatt never got back to his birth weight, so his pediatrician sent them to a feeding therapist. The feeding therapist felt he needed a swallow study done to see what was going on. On May 19th, they went to the hospital for his swallow study, which marks the day that would start this long journey. Wyatt failed his swallow study and was deemed unsafe to eat anything by mouth. Wyatt was unable to go home and was admitted to the hospital. He had more testing done to see why there were struggles with eating, and that is when they discovered he has a life threatening anomaly called a transesophageal fistula (TEF). There are a few different types of TEF’s, but Wyatt has the rarest one known as an H-type. A TEF is an abnormal connection between your esophagus and your trachea. When Wyatt would eat, as the food went down, it would also go through the hole (fistula) and into his trachea and lungs.

On May 24th, Wyatt had his first surgery in hopes to close the fistula. They did a non-invasive repair done endoscopically. He had to wait a week before they could check to make sure the repair held. On May 31st, they discovered the repair did not work and Wyatt would need another surgery. June 1st, they took Wyatt for surgery a second time and did a more invasive route by making an incision in his neck to get to the fistula and close it. The surgery went as planned. However, on the morning of June 2nd, Stephany got a call from the surgeon saying they were going to be taking Wyatt for emergency surgery as his neck was swelling around his incision. They believe he had an air leak, which is leaking from the repair site of the fistula into the tissue around his neck. In order for them to repair the leak they had to put him on a ventilator and paralyze him in hopes the leak would seal itself up. Wyatt was unable to be touched or moved due to the very unsteady leak in his trachea. While being on the ventilator his lungs began to collapse, because his breathing tube had to be in such a delicate position in order for the leak to seal itself. Therefore, the vent could not properly ventilate Wyatt. This was an extremely stressful/scary time for Derek and Stephany. They were going hour by hour watching his vital signs extremely closely. The nurses and doctors worked very diligently to take care of Wyatt through this very critical time.

On June 7th, Wyatt’s oxygen needs increased and he was maxed out on the ventilator. The doctors had to make big decisions and decided Wyatt needed to be taken off the paralytic to wake up, and start breathing on his own to help open up his lungs. This came with a big risk; they were hoping his leak had repaired itself by this time. Luckily the risk paid off as his air leak had healed and he started breathing on his own again, saving his lungs from further collapsing.

After about a week later as Wyatt came off the ventilator, Derek and Stephany got to hold him for the first time in two weeks. This was such a big day because Derek and Stephany were unsure if they would ever get to hold him again. Wyatt had come a VERY long way.

On June 22, Derek and Stephany received disheartening news. They learned Wyatt's vocal cords were paralyzed from his surgery, which was a risk with the surgery. They decided to obtain a second opinion from a world-renowned ENT surgeon at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, where they were informed Wyatt would need an airway reconstruction surgery. Due to his paralyzed vocal cords, he is unable to protect his airway. Derek and Stephany decided it would be best to transfer Wyatt to Cincinnati as it gives him the best chance for a swift and hopefully full recovery from the complications he’s faced. On July 9th Wyatt will be transported via a medical airplane to Cincinnati.

If you’ve made it to the end, thank you for reading Wyatt's story so far as it's been long and difficult. The challenges don’t end yet especially with the big vocal cord surgery coming up soon in Cincinnati. This whole process has been extremely long and Stephany has spent her entire maternity leave at the hospital with Wyatt, aside for his first two weeks of life, and their journey is nowhere near over yet. With Wyatt’s surgery he will be hospitalized for at least another 3 to 4 weeks minimum, and that is with no complications. Stephany is taking a personal leave of absence from work and will be unpaid, along with having to start paying for her insurance premiums out of pocket. These are difficult times and the family thanks you again for any donation being made.

“A single act of kindness throws our roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”

– Amelia Earhart