Jonathan’s Journey

May 2, 2023, a Tuesday, started like any other day for us. Jonathan went to a dentist appointment, went to work, and came home, like always. The girls had been to school, I had been to work, and we had an event at church to go to that night. My sweet Jonathan had already been sick for over 2 weeks with pneumonia at this point but he seemingly had started to recover. We had a “date day” the Saturday before, spending our day together at the Georgia Aquarium. Life was great! We were so happy. So in love. So proud of our beautiful family, our new home. We never expected our whole world was about to shift.

While we were at church that night Jonathan became very short of breath, to the extent that he visibly was grey in the face and blue around his lips and earlobes. I immediately knew he was in trouble so we checked the girls out from kids church, dropped them off at home, and went to Houston Medical Center to the emergency department. They wasted no time in starting to treat what they still believed at that time to be a very persistent case of pneumonia. He was admitted to the pulmonology floor and began more aggressive antibiotic & steroid treatment as well as oxygen therapy. He continued to get worse.

By May 8th Jonathan was transferred into the ICU, still at Houston Medical. This was the first day we were told his lungs were failing but they were trying to save as much of his lung function as they could. On May 11th he was in complete respiratory failure and had to be placed on a ventilator and transferred to Emory University Hospital for the additional support of ECMO.

When we arrived I met with his medical team and was told there were going to be 3 possible outcomes. 1: Jonathan would respond to treatment and allowing his lungs to rest on the ventilator and ECMO could recover some of his lungs’ function. 2: his lungs would not recover and he would require a double lung transplant. Or 3: he would pass away.

Today is day 70 at Emory and at this point Jonathan has been through multiple surgeries/procedures, multiple episodes that required him be placed on the ventilator again, hypovolemic shock, and full cardiac arrest requiring CPR. We learned about a month ago that option 1 was no longer a possibility. His lungs are damaged beyond repair and he CAN NOT survive outside of the hospital at this point. The only options left are lung transplant, or death.

If you don’t know, getting to transplant is far from easy! There are a multitude of requirements that must be met before a patient can even be listed for the transplant and organs can even began to be looked for. One of these requirements is that he has to be able to walk 5 laps around the ICU - yes, even with lungs that don’t work, even on full life support, even in excruciating pain he must walk. He is fighting everyday to meet his goal and make sure he’s physically ready when lungs are found for him. He is doing what seems impossible and he’s almost met his goal!!!! We’re almost there!

Which brings us to the next part - Prior to being able to be listed we had to have a financial evaluation to ensure we can take care of the precious organs Jonathan will be gifted to keep him alive. All transplant patients are given a fund raising goal to cover their first 6 months of post-op care, which is the most expensive part of his journey. In addition to keeping our home life going, because we are young and have four beautiful girls at home that still need to be cared for, we have been given the goal of $19,000 to cover Jonathan’s expenses. $5,000 of which we need up front before he can be listed for organs.

This is extremely difficult for me to do. Jonathan and I both are very hyper-independent people and asking for help is not an easy thing for us to do, but we are in a situation that is beyond all normalcy. We have four little girls who love him dearly and need him to come home. For this reason more than any other we are asking for anyone who is able to PLEASE donate. Even if it’s just a few dollars, every dollar will help get him to the goal and will get him the life saving treatment that he needs so that he can come home to us. I was by Jonathan’s side the night his heart stopped. I watched them perform CPR. I got a small glimpse of the pain we will feel if we lose him. Because of that I am humbling myself and asking, please help us!

In addition, please continue to pray!!! Pray for Jonathan to continue to have the beautiful, fighting spirit he has. Pray for his medical team to make the best decisions for him each day. Pray for Gabbrielle, Lorelei, Zoey, and Layla who all adore him and are in agony that he’s not home with us right now. Pray for my sanity and for my aching heart as I try to support him and our family every day.

We are facing an impossible situation and we need every single one of you. Please help bring Jonathan home!!!