Travel expenses for Unborn Baby's Spina Bifida

Hello, my name is Shastelle and my spouse is Travis. We have one teenager daughter together. On August 12th, we found out we are expecting our second child. We had a few appointments between August 27th – October 4th. We got to see our second child for the first time via ultrasound on September 10th. On October 27th we received a call that some testing came back abnormal and was referred to another doctor. We had more testing done between that day and the consultation with a specialist doctor.

On November 9th, my support team and I headed to one of his remote locations in Great Falls. His main office is located in Missoula. We had more ultrasounds done and after the scans we spoke with the doctor. We took 1.5 hours trying to get all the photos we needed but the baby had other plans. He/she was bouncing off the walls. We spent another 1.5 hours speaking with the doctor. It was confirmed our child had Spina Bifida. We didn’t know how severe it was, as the baby was not cooperating that day with imagining.

He let us know a few options we had. The first was to have in-utero surgery. There are two types of surgery done for this. The first is open fetal surgery and it’s done at a few children’s hospitals; Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Houston, and other hospitals on the east coast. This surgery they will open the uterus and expose the baby to repair the opening. After surgery, I will need to stay in the same city where the procedure is done for the remainder of my pregnancy. The second type is surgery we are planning for. It’s fetoscopic surgery. This surgery, they will put a few tubes in the uterus and perform surgery without having to cut the uterus open like they would for c-section. This is only done in a few places and the best option for me is done in Houston, Texas. Last option would be to perform surgery after the baby is born via c-section. Surgery will be performed within 24 hours of birth. With how much fluid is in the brain, the baby will also receive another surgery a couple days after the repair of the spine. This surgery is to put a shunt in the baby to help with the drainage of the fluid.

On November 23, 2021, I received a call from one of the nurses from Texas. They would like to see me between Dec. 1-3 for an evaluation to see if we are a candidate for surgery for in-utero fetoscopic surgery. This surgery does need to be performed while the baby is 24-26 and 6 days old. Once I have this surgery, I will be in the hospital for 4 days. I will then have to stay in Houston for the next 3 weeks. If there are any complications during surgery I will need to remain in Houston for the remainder for the rest of my pregnancy. If it all goes well, I can come home but will need to be within Great Falls, Missoula, or Kalispell for the remainder of my pregnancy.

I am asking for funds to help with food, travel costs and bills. The clinic at Rocky Boy is willing to help with flights and hotels for Houston but will not cover all costs associated with travel and my daily living expenses both travel and at home. I have missed a lot of work during and used all my leave for the doctor appointments I have already attended.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and prayers.

Fluid build up in the brain and at the very bottom you can see where the opening is.

View of the spine and body. On the bottom, middle right is the spine area. You are able to see where the opening is.

Fluid build up in the brain. At this age the white color should be smaller.

3D view of baby.

Babies first photo.