Hi! My name is Caitlin and my nephew is Carter Roark. I'm starting this fundraiser to support my sister, her husband, and their 3 children during a really difficult time.

Baby Carter was born on May 13th, 2021 and was flown to the Children's National Hospital in D.C. a few hours following his birth. He has not left the Cardiac ICU floor since his arrival 3 months ago. In his first few months of life he has already been through so much - he is such a warrior! Carter was diagnosed with multiple heart defects accomponied by numerous other complications. Because of how sick and unstable he was upon his arrival at CNH, he was placed on an ECMO machine that required his surgeon to have to leave open his chest. Samantha and Zachary were told that first night that Carter's chances of making it through the night were slim - our warrior beat those odds and is still fighting! Since then, he has had 2 other major surgeries, the first on his heart at 4 days old where a BT shunt was inserted and the other on his colon to remove a section where disease was present. His 3rd procedure, another open heart surgery is scheduled for Monday, August 23rd. Over the course of the last three months Carter has also fought through 2 infections, 3 visits to the Cath lab, several CT's & ECHO's, countless x-rays, and much, much, more. He even experienced one coding event where Carter's nurses rushed to yet again save his life - My sister and her husband where at the hospital when this happened.

I can't even begin to imagine or describe how difficult this has been on Samantha, Zachary, Kaiden, and Addison. They are all doing the absolute best they can but it has taken a toll on all 4 physically, mentally, and emotionally. Carter's health issues were not caught during pregnancy but even if they were, I'm not sure it would have made any of this easier for the Roark family other than being able to financially prepare themselves.

Up until a few weeks ago, Samantha was on paid maternity leave but this is no longer the case. If she doesn't return to work by August 25th, two days after Carter's next surgery, she will have to walk away from her job - the main source of income for her family as Zachary has not worked through the Pandemic. 

Zachary and Samantha are driving from Fredericksburg, VA to Washington, D.C. daily (57 miles one way). They qualify to stay at the Ronald McDonald house however, with COVID restrictions Kaiden and Addison would not be allowed to stay with them so this is not an option. They are paying for daily gas fill up's and express lane fees in order to miss the Northern VA traffic to make it home in the evening in time to see their other 2 kids. They also get a hotel in D.C. most weekends when Kaiden and Addison can have sleepovers with family.

My hope for this fundraiser is to give The Roark family one less thing to stress about over the next couple of weeks as they prepare for Carter's next heart surgery and the weeks following his recovery. Anything raised will help with traveling expenses and the medical bills which have already started coming in.

If you find it in your heart to donate, please know it would mean the world to my sister and her family as they fight along side their heart warrior!