Heartfelt thank you

I wanted to send a heartfelt thank you to some very special people.

• Teriann M
• Lisa McC
• Rivkah H
• Lisa R
• Good Karma Apps
• Tracy S
• Kaisa S
• Jennifer E-K
• Julie McC
• Ashley W
• Jody L-P
• Carol R-A
• Jennifer A-K

Last night/early this morning I created a ChipIn page for our youngest son, Martyn.

(He is four days old in this picture)

He has severe GERD that causes life threatening episodes (apnea spells).  I created the page for friends and family to help to purchase a Pulse Oximeter Machine for him.

Originally, I had set a goal of $400.  To purchase a new machine.  Fortunately, I was able to find a mama only a couple of hours away from us, who so kindly offered to sell us her machine.  A $1000 machine.  For $250.
Tonight, we met this goal.  Less than twenty four hours after I originally posted the link. A family friend will be picking this machine up for us this weekend.  THIS.FREAKING.WEEKEND!!!!

We are so grateful and appreciative.


Since he was a little infant, he has struggled with respiratory and GERD issues.   He has had multiple hospital stays, tons of tests.  He's such a trooper.  Always has a smile on his face (well, unless you tell him no, lol).

(He really wanted the cannula's off!)

His team has refused to prescribe us one of these machines for home use.  They do not believe it would make an impact on his outcome.

I'm sure most of you mothers with children can understand our worry.  Sitting at home in the middle of the night, unsure on if you should pack up and rush to the hospital, or wait it out.

We have had a difficult time with Martyn because of his history.  He has always since he was born, appeared to be in respiratory distress.  He has trach tugs, and he indraws.   It makes it rather difficult to know just how bad off he is.

I remember when he was about 3mos old, and he had his first apnea spell.  It was just after midnight.  I'd nursed him and put him in his bassinet beside the bed. He had had some minor cold symptoms all day.
About ten minutes later he made this gawd awful noise, and I jumped out of bed to get him.  His lips were blue, and he was just making these awful noises. He couldn't catch his breath, and he was obviously terrified. I called 911.  By the time the ambulance arrived to the house, he appeared fine.  In fact, they didn't even feel like they needed to transport him to hospital.  I disagreed and told them I felt like we needed to go.
We arrived at the hospital, and no one seemed overly concerned.  The on call physician did decide for Martyn to get a chest x-ray.  He had pneumonia. Two days later, he was admitted for a week.  That would be his first of many hospital admissions.

Martyn is now 18 months old.  While he's doing better than he was when he was younger, he still faces a lot of struggles, and still suffers apnea spells on a nightly basis.

We will now have the peace of mind that we will know if he is truly in distress.

Thank you.  All of you.  

For giving us peace of mind.