Sadie’s Angels

Sadie Noel was born on January 10th as the older sister to Sawyer David! When she was born, they found out that she had Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome), and were completely in love with her. She was absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way. 

Commonly, in Down's children, TMD is present (transient myeloproliferative disorder), which Sadie had as well as an enlarged liver. This can cause or be in conjunction with hematologic abnormalities, which Sadie had as well. She presented with very high platelet counts and white blood cells. She was started on chemo, which is less invasive to children, and was being utilized to "clean out" those cells. 

After a few rounds, she was started on CPAP for helping her to breathe after the exhaustion from the chemo. Her platelets had come back to normal and her WBC were decreasing.

She started to swell during the day, increasing her weight, but was tolerating feeds. This showed some fluid retention, and she was started on Lasix to help with this. She was stable. Mom and Dad were enjoying every second they got to be with her, change her diapers, and hold her momentarily.

At 2:30am that night, they got a phone call that Sadie had a GI bleed. They started a transfusion of clotting factors to help her stabilize as well as more Lasix. She coded a few times, and Matthew and Juleigh were given the opportunity to do surgery or to hold her as they didn't have much optimism for the surgery. Juleigh and Matthew wanted to do everything at all possible, of course, and when the surgeon was finished, he had a change in his demeanor. It would be touch and go, but when they had removed the fluid, she was doing much better.

Soon after, sweet Sadie coded again. They called Matthew and Juleigh in, and did everything that they could to save her while also making sure that she did not suffer and was pain free. They were able to hold her at this time.

We wanted to share this story, but not at the expense of their privacy, but hopefully to share the beautiful light that Sadie brought to them in this short, precious week that she was with us. She brought Juleigh and Matthew so much joy, and as Juleigh said "if love could have saved her, she would have lived forever."

At this time, as you can imagine, the medical bills for the NICU for both Sawyer and Sadie are very high as well as funeral costs for something no parent should have to experience, ever.