Meet Kathryn. This bright-eyed little beauty was born on January 19th of this year, to proud parents Krista Mann and Kevin Hall. She is sunshine and smiles at almost four months old, and has been the greatest of blessings to her family. However, five days after her birth, Kathryn was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot. This is a serious and multi-faceted heart defect. Katie has a hole between the lower chambers of her heart and an obstruction from her heart to her lungs. In addition to this, her aorta (main blood vessel) lies over the hole in the lower chambers, and the muscle surrounding the lower right chamber is overly thickened. In short, beautiful little Katie was born with a bit of a broken heart, and needs to undergo extensive open heart surgery at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital.
Although the doctors and family were hoping to wait a bit longer, so Katie could grow a little more, the surgery has become quite urgent. Last week, only a few days after Kate’s Baptism, doctors informed Krista and Kevin that the condition of Katie’s little heart was deteriorating. This means that she will be going into a more complicated and serious surgery tomorrow.
While we already know that Kate’s a little fighter, recovery is going to take some time. Because she is so little, Kate will have to spend quite a bit of time laying on her back in Intensive Care at the hospital attached to lots of tubes and gadgets while she heals and her mended heart grows strong enough for her to go home. It’s expected that she will be at Sick Kids for roughly two to six weeks, but the length of the stay will depend on many factors.
During her time in recovery, Kate will not be able to reach some of her developmental milestones since she will have to stay on her back attached to different tubes and machines. This means no tummy time, turning over or sitting up, and not very much snuggle time because her heart needs to heal. While Mom and Dad will be with her, Katie will also not have the ability to hear the encouraging words of her parents, as she has a hearing impairment and will not be able to wear her fabulous sparkly purple hearing aids during recovery.
Babies are costly at the best of times, but adding $4,000 hearing aids and lots of specialized and unexpected medical expenses, and then trying to figure out how to cover the cost of nearby lodging while Kate is in hospital has been very overwhelming. Krista, an RPN, had a complex pregnancy and was unable to work or drive for most of it, and Kevin, a Tool and Dye maker, lost his job the week before Kate was born… While he has started a new job outside of the city, he does not yet qualify for much paid time off to be with Kate throughout the duration of her recovery period.
Krista and Kevin do not qualify for Ronald McDonald House as they have been informed that the distance cut off is 55 kilometres or more and they live 52 kms away, and only one parent [at a time] is allowed to stay with Katie in the ICU. Because of this, they will have to get a hotel room somewhere nearby for the period of time that Kate is in hospital. This will also make things a bit easier when Kate’s brother and sister are able to come [for only short visits] after she is out of the ICU.
We think little Katie and her parents are pretty awesome, and we would like to help them stay together during this difficult time. We are hoping to be able to raise some money to help off-set the cost of lodging and medical expenses. It’s been a tough start for the little bean (and her parents too). Perhaps we can make things a bit easier for Katie and her family, so they can focus on the recovery and being together without having to worry too much about how to make it happen. We know that Katie will be in good hands at Sick Kids, we are just hoping that mom and dad will be in good hands too. Please help if you can. It’s hard work mending a broken heart.
xo