Baby Cooper

Cooper was born on January 8th of this year, in an "adventurous" fashion. Our daughter Allison and Cooper, both almost lost their lives soon after delivery. Cooper was in respiratory distress and Allison had to go into emergency surgery just two hours after Cooper was born, for life threatening hemorrhaging. Alli received three blood transfusions, and yet, they both were discharged "healthy" a few days later with quite a story of survival.

As many of you know already, Cooper was admitted into Boston Children's Hospital on January 26th for seizure like episodes and disconcerting respiratory issues. Cooper's hospital adventure has included an array of tests and procedures, a magnitude of complex symptoms, and a whole team of medical professionals who have struggled to untangle all of the symptoms to gain enough insight to offer is a clear or concise diagnosis.

After an EEG, 2 EKGs, a sleep study, a barium swallow, an endoscopy, a brain ultrasound, genetic testing, daily blood gas work ups, and a chest X-ray....we have been given a diagnosis of severe central sleep apnea.

We all expected that after the Doctor explained how severe his case was (he said "severe" over and over and over again) that Cooper would have a tough few months at best but, would eventually be able to overcome this issue as he got older.

However, due to the severity of Coopers current condition they feel that he may be dealing with a more sinister condition, which they are currently testing for, and have decided to start treating him with round the clock oxygen treatment, and he will also have a repeat sleep study to see if he has any change with the oxygen. His blood gas test is more consistent with the genetic disorder and he also had a high acid levels in his blood.

Cooper will be needing special medical devices and monitoring systems, a generator for the home, and many other services that we are only now coming to terms with. Allison will not be able to go back to work in the foreseeable future as Cooper will need his Mom now that he is considered medically fragile.

We still don't know what Cooper's future will be regarding his health but, we do know that he will be surrounded by a family who will do whatever it takes for him to thrive no matter what, and he has a huge community of people who were all so overjoyed to welcome him into the world!

Thank you for your prayers and support for Cooper and his parents as they navigate this new chapter in their life.