Hi Team! My name is Courtnie Walker. Tanner is my nephew who was born with the sweetest heart that needs a little mending. He was born early at 2lbs 3oz with a will to survive the odds. My sister, his mom was constantly told that he was not viable outside of the womb or that he would have developmental issues. Tanner had his own plans to survive the odds with the support of his family. His parents didn’t care if he could possibly have Down syndrome they were happy to have a baby to love. His mom has been trying for many years to conceive and Tanner is her miracle baby in more ways than one. Tanner was born with Tetralogy of the Fallot (combination of 4 heart defects creating oxygen, poor blood to flow to the heart and rest of the body. Mom is not a drinker, she wasn’t sick during pregnancy (with the exception of gallbladder-which she had to have removed after Tanner was born) so as you can imagine this was a shocker. Additionally his aorta is meant to be in the left ventricle and is hanging out in his right ventricle. He has to have open heart surgery and will be traveling by ambulance a few hours away to meet the specialist. He has overcome many milestones to get to his big day surviving being in utero, delivery- emergency cesarean, thriving and gaining weight since his birth (8/15). Currently he is 4lbs 5.64oz and is about to reach his next big milestone (weight) so he can have his surgery.

Tanner has done his part. This is where we need some assistance. Mom is getting ready to transition to PFL (this is helpful but still not full pay so a little bit of money loss), dad owns a landscaping (one man business) and they will be following Tanner to the new hospital out of town and staying as long as they need to in order to ensure he is safe and healthy to finally come home. We all can’t wait to meet him in person. Just looking to see if we can help take a financial burden off of mom and dad during this very stressful time. Their bills are still coming even though their income is not. I know this doesn’t affect your day to day but if you can find it in your heart to help them while Tanners heart is being mended we will be forever thankful.