Kendra Gray's Fundraising Page
THANK YOU DONORS! BECAUSE OF YOUR GENEROUS DONATIONS WE WERE ABLE TO HELP SEVERAL WELL DESERVING CHILDREN AT PCH!
As many of you know, I have been on the Committee for the Miracles in Motion event for the past 4 years. Phoenix Children’s is such an amazing organization that I also volunteer every Saturday morning to be with some of the most awesome kiddos in the Valley that utilize PCH services.
I love this hospital and the kiddos here and appreciate all the support you can give to help me meet my fundraising goal.
Thank you in advance for showing my PCH family your generosity.
Wising everyone my best,
Kendra Gray
My honor patient is Zeke. Here is Zeke's story as told to me by his mom:
Zeke was born 11 weeks before his due date for no known reason. He spent 8 weeks as a patient in the NICU at PCH before her was well enough to go home with his mom and dad. When he was born his digestive and respiratory systems were not developed enough to sustain him without the help of the wonderful doctors and nurses at PCH. He struggled to maintain his heart rate and to remember to breathe (called Brady's and Appeas, respectively). When the As and Bs were bad, mom, dad, and the doctors worried about oxygen deprivation as tiny baby Zeke turned horrible shades of blue. The As and Bs continued to plague him so when all other issues had been resolved, Zeke came home on a aphea monitor. When he was 5 months old, Zeke was freed from his aphea monitor. Zeke's other milestone before he was allowed to come home involved eating. Babies born before 34 weeks of pregnancy cannot coordinate breathing, sucking from a bottle and swallowing milk. For the first 5 weeks Zeke got all his nutrition from a combination of IV nutrition and milk fed to his stomach through a tube in his nose. Five weeks after his birth he was allowed to try nursing and drinking from a bottle. Unfortunately each time he ate the As & Bs would increase. Tests revealed the flap that protected his airway when swallowing was not functioning properly. Fluid was splashing into his lungs with each swallow making him silently choke. To prevent this, Zeke's milk was mixed with thickener and fed to him in a bottle until he was 5 and 1/2 months old. At that point test revealed he was finally able to protect his airway.
PCH was amazing during our 8 weeks in the NICU and for all of the follow up appointments once he came home. The nurses and doctors took care of Zeke, but also paid attention to the needs of our entire family as we learned our way around caring for our son in the hospital. While we hope that we never have to spend time in the NICU again, knowing PCH is there makes the idea not as terrifying. Zeke is now 4 years old and all the signs of his premature birth are gone. The great care he received at PCH played a large part in that.