When a Big Heart needs Fixin'
Hello World!
We are Jordan, Lance, and Josephine Akins. Oh, and Kooper too (the dog). We are a little family with big dreams and big hearts.
Our 13 month old daughter, Josephine was born with a heart condition. After an easy pregnancy, and a long labor, Josephine was taken to the special care nursery at Swedish Covenant Hospital for what we thought was a pneumonia. 
Pneumonia, ok, we thought, a round of antibiotics and we can go home right? Wrong. 1 week later, a 4am phone call informs us that Josephine has a heart rate of 250 and they can't bring it down, the transfer team from Lurie Children's Hospital is on the way to get her. After a nerve-wracking day of testing, the real news is revealed: Josephine has a problem with her aortic valve, this has led to a narrowing of her aorta and also a crimp in it (called a coarctation) that must be removed. The next day we have a successful surgery to fix the crimp, but a narrowing in her airway, close to the crimp, leaves us in the hospital for 2 more weeks getting her breathing under control.
These photos show her progress through her first hospitalization. 
On the major oxygen
On regular oxygen
Taking a nap with Gramoo
Hanging with Daddy 
Finally Home!!
That was 13 months ago. We made it through with love, prayer, and so much support from the medical team on the 15th floor at Lurie and some special friends in their neurology department and from the Ronald McDonald House. As well as from all of our loved ones, family and friends.
And Josephine! She is the real rock star in all this, loving life, laughing, and bring us joy every day.
At the Zoo this August
But here's the thing, it's not the initial scary, life-threatening hospitalization that's gotten us here to GoFundMe. Instead, it is the continuing care that Josephine will need into the future. The past 13 months has begun to chip away at our wallets. That and the intense timing of a second surgery paired with a move. We are moving to North Carolina. Jordan has a great job opportunity there, Lance has family within driving distance. We prepared, we saved, we passed up vacations, but we didn't save enough to keep Jordan home between jobs while Josephine recovers AND move.
Over the past 13 months, Josephine has had routine ECHO's and an inpatient stay for a cath procedure, she sees 2 specialists and the regular pediatrician. Jordan cut her work schedule to 4 days per week to maintain the doctor appointment schedule and her sanity. All of this has impacted our wallets as much as our energy levels.
Now Josephine needs open-heart surgery to fix yet another complication with her aortic valve called a sub-aortic membrane. This surgery will require her to go on a by-pass machine that will breathe and pump her blood for her while she is on the operating table. It will also require her to be on 6 weeks of low activity so her rib cage can heal after they open it. It is her scariest and most life-threatening procedure to date.
We currently have 5,000 dollars in medical bills from just 2015's medical treatments and follow up. We are asking for 5,000 more for 2 reasons: one, we have no idea what type of balance we will be responsible for after this up-coming scary surgery and two: we are re-locating. Jordan's new job in Wilmington, NC has allowed her to postpone her start there by a month, so Josephine can recover. We all know what happens when you don't go to work, you don't get paid. Jordan resigned from her current job, with enough money to make it to her original start date, but not enough money to relocate and wait an additional month while her daughter recuperates from open-heart surgery. So we are asking for some help, from you. Help us pay the bills we already have, and help a mom stay home with her child when she really really needs her Mommy.
PS: To lighten the mood, if someone can get this GoFundMe in front of Steve Harvey, yes the radio show/Family Feud host. Josephine will come dance at your next party or function!
