Baby Canyon's Medical Fund for CDH
Donation protected
My husband's cousin's unborn baby, Canyon, was diagnosed at 20 weeks with CDH. Her family has been faced with many difficult decisions these past few weeks and are in need of much prayer and support. They have options to undergo a surgical procedure at Texas Children's in Houston called a tracheal occlusion (to hope help Canyon's lungs develop more before birth), or to stay in Austin and have treatment here (which could possibly result in out-of-pocket expenses). Her family's insurance will not cover the procedure at Texas Children's because it is considered an "experimental" procedure, and they would need much help financially to have her and baby treated in Houston before, during, and after birth. If they do not have the surgical procedure done her family may still need support financially because of expenses insurance will not cover.
A note from Jessica (the mother):
For those of you wondering what's going on,
On Friday, Jan 9th, I had my 20 week anatomy ultrasound, which Donovan had to miss because of his new job at Apple. It was just supposed to be a routine checkup. We had already done the initial screening which came back negative for the most common birth defects and abnormalities. There was no reason to t...hink today would be anything but another chance to see our sweet baby boy, Canyon.
Everything started off normal, but I could tell that when we started looking at his chest and heart, something wasn't right. I thought it was an issue with his heart based on all the time the technician was talking to look at that spot, but I didn't ask her any questions, knowing that she would tell me to wait for the Dr. anyway. Finally, after about 40 min, she left the room. I waited and waited and sure enough the Dr. came in. Once he told me he wanted to perform another ultrasound himself to get a better sense of what he was looking at, I knew it was serious. Then the devastating blow came. He told me that Canyon has a birth defect called CDH or Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, which is basically a hole in his diaphragm that has allowed his internal organs to travel upward into his chest. His stomach, intestines and part of his liver are now crowding his heart and lungs, forcing them over to the right side of his chest. As if that wasn't hard enough to hear, the news became harder when he told me that his lungs are too crowded to grow much more. With such under-developed lungs, his chances of surviving outside the womb are 50%. The blows just kept coming after he told me his LHR, (lung to head ratio) was only a 1.1, reaffirming a slim chance of survival. Then the hard hitting fact... if we want to terminate, we only have 6 days according to TX regulations. That's not nearly enough time when faced with a literal life or death decision.
What can you do? Pray for us, send positive thoughts and vibes. Picture our family as 2 strong, loving parents with 3 perfectly healthy and happy boys. I'm hoping that enough positivity, love and visualization can turn this around in our favor. I'm more of a realist than an optimist sometimes and my mind has seriously gone haywire with facts and research that has led me more toward fear and doubt. My mind is all over the place and not for my benefit. What I need now is for you all to help me turn this around by being positive and seeing only the good in the situation. That will in turn raise our vibration and put out the strong vibrations that we need to get through this. I know that reason and logic will eventually go out the window and emotion will take over. That is also when I'll need you all to be strong and help me stay strong. I'm not usually one to ask for affirmation, but I will need it now and in the near future.
Thank you all for your love and support!
Aria
A note from Jessica (the mother):
For those of you wondering what's going on,
On Friday, Jan 9th, I had my 20 week anatomy ultrasound, which Donovan had to miss because of his new job at Apple. It was just supposed to be a routine checkup. We had already done the initial screening which came back negative for the most common birth defects and abnormalities. There was no reason to t...hink today would be anything but another chance to see our sweet baby boy, Canyon.
Everything started off normal, but I could tell that when we started looking at his chest and heart, something wasn't right. I thought it was an issue with his heart based on all the time the technician was talking to look at that spot, but I didn't ask her any questions, knowing that she would tell me to wait for the Dr. anyway. Finally, after about 40 min, she left the room. I waited and waited and sure enough the Dr. came in. Once he told me he wanted to perform another ultrasound himself to get a better sense of what he was looking at, I knew it was serious. Then the devastating blow came. He told me that Canyon has a birth defect called CDH or Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, which is basically a hole in his diaphragm that has allowed his internal organs to travel upward into his chest. His stomach, intestines and part of his liver are now crowding his heart and lungs, forcing them over to the right side of his chest. As if that wasn't hard enough to hear, the news became harder when he told me that his lungs are too crowded to grow much more. With such under-developed lungs, his chances of surviving outside the womb are 50%. The blows just kept coming after he told me his LHR, (lung to head ratio) was only a 1.1, reaffirming a slim chance of survival. Then the hard hitting fact... if we want to terminate, we only have 6 days according to TX regulations. That's not nearly enough time when faced with a literal life or death decision.
What can you do? Pray for us, send positive thoughts and vibes. Picture our family as 2 strong, loving parents with 3 perfectly healthy and happy boys. I'm hoping that enough positivity, love and visualization can turn this around in our favor. I'm more of a realist than an optimist sometimes and my mind has seriously gone haywire with facts and research that has led me more toward fear and doubt. My mind is all over the place and not for my benefit. What I need now is for you all to help me turn this around by being positive and seeing only the good in the situation. That will in turn raise our vibration and put out the strong vibrations that we need to get through this. I know that reason and logic will eventually go out the window and emotion will take over. That is also when I'll need you all to be strong and help me stay strong. I'm not usually one to ask for affirmation, but I will need it now and in the near future.
Thank you all for your love and support!
Aria
Organizer
Kimberly Lovato
Organizer
Leander, TX
