Stanton Family

Jeremy Stanton is a Master Firefighter in the Virginia Beach Fire Department.  Jeremy and his wife Heather have two beautiful children; Abby who is four years old, and Braxton will turn one this June.

Over the past year, Braxton has struggled to gain weight, and through numerous tests, has been diagnosed with FPIES (Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome).  FPIES is a type of food allergy that causes Braxton to become violently ill when he eats any food that he is allergic to.  Milk products, including breastmilk are one of the foods that he can't tolerate. This is the reason that Braxton has struggled to gain weight and has been diagnosed with Failure to Thrive.

Recently, Braxton had a Naso-Gastric Tube inserted into his stomach so that he can get some nutrition.  He is only able to tolerate one specific type of formula that has to be administered through the NG tube.  To complicate things further, Braxton has not been able to completely empty the contents of his stomach, so he has not been able to ingest enough calories to gain weight.  Doctors have started to treat this condition with medication.  

Throughout all of these medical appointments, procedures, and treatments for Braxton, the medical bills have started to add up.  To add to their stress, their health insurance company has classified all of the treatments for Braxton as rehabilitation, so they are NOT covered and are paid completely out of pocket.  This includes Home Health visits twice a week to monitor Braxton's NG tube, and Occupational Therapy once a week to teach Braxton how to eat solid food.  These appointments are at the direction of Braxton's doctors and as can be expected, these appointments are expensive.

All donations will go directly to Jeremy and Heather to help cover the costs from Braxton's appointments.  There is no timeline for how long Braxton will continue to have the NG tube, but it will be for several months.  Once Braxton has shown he is able to eat solid food and is gaining the appropriate weight, the NG tube will be removed, but he will still continue to have numerous Doctor's appointments for the for seeable future.

Jeremy is our brother in the VBFD, and his family is a part of ours.  We love his kids like they are our own and want to help them in any way that we can.  Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you for giving if you are able!


Virginia Beach Fire Department- Company 11 A-Shift