My Story
Hello, my name is Andrew Wade Jackson. My friends call me Drew. When my mommy was 17 weeks pregnant they found out that I have a severe heart defect called an unbalanced atrioventricular septal defect. This means I have holes in the septal wall of my heart and that only 1 of my 2 ventricles is working properly. This heart defect was caused by trisomy 21 often known as Downs Syndrome.
I was born in Kalispell on July 10th and 3 hours after birth took my first plane ride to Seattle. I was there for 10 days as they monitored my heart. Then I went home to Kalispell to be with my family.
On September 10th I was set to have a pulmonary band surgery which is normally a low risk surgery. However, they were not able to do this surgery and had to begin the "Norwood" series of surgeries. My first surgery was Sept. 11th. Early in the morning I went into surgery spending 4 hours on the heart and lung by-pass machine. When it was time to come off they could not get my heart and lungs started again. I went on a life support machine called ECMO which takes the blood from the body, gives it oxygen and sends it back. This machine would be my best friend for the next 12 days and ultimately saved my life. After many days on life support, many more in the CICU, and a while on the floor I was able to return home. At home I was on oxygen full time, had a feeding tube, and many medications. On April 28th, 2009 I had my second open heart surgery, the Glenn. This surgery was not near as eventful as the first and we were able to return home after only 15 days away. At home things have gone well. I am now without oxygen and without my feeding tube. Currently my Cardiologist is watching me closly as we wait for my next open heart surgery, the Fontan. This will take place between the ages of three and five. My mommy and daddy are nervous as this surgery is more major than the last. Given the complexity of my heart, my past history of issues, and my trisomy 21 make my surgerys more difficult. However, my mommy and daddy trust in the Lord and the Power of Prayer.
August of 2011 we decided to move to Seattle to be closer to Childrens and are adjusting to life in the big city. On Tuesday July 31st I will have my next major open heart surgery. Please remember to say a prayer for me.
Thank you for visiting my site.
Here are a few statistics about my life from July 10, 2008 to July 24,2012:
Days lived at Childrens: 55
Days in ICU: 33
Days on Life Support: 17
2 Open Heart Surgery(Complete with Heart and Lung By-Pass machine)
1 Heart Surgery
3 Heart Cauterization
1 Life Flight(Kalispell to Seattle)
1 Ambulance Ride(Kalispell Hospital to Airport)
3 Trips to Seattle
1 Cardiac Arrest(Complete with CPR and Epinephrine-This saved my life)
To many Echocardiograms to count
To many trips to Cardiologist to count
To many blood transfusions to count
Please say a prayer for me.
Love, Baby Drew and Family
Day 14 I can see my Mommy and Daddy again
Today has been a good day for me so far. I am off my "Vec" which is a drug that keeps my body paralyzed. So now I can open my eyes again. My mommy and daddy are very happy to see my eyes again, it has been over a week since they last saw them. They are also starting to take my ventilator settings down and so far I am doing good. The strength of the Lord is keeping me strong. Hopefully soon I will be off my machines.
Please remember to say a prayer for me.
Love, Drew and Family
4 comments:
Dearest Great Grandbaby Andrew,
Great News! You are so
beautiful. Just keep up all the
fine work getting better and better. We are so proud of you.
Our prayers are with you always.
It is such a blessing having so
many nice people praying for you
also.
Love Forever
Grandma Great
BabyDrew,
We are so happy to see the progress you have made the last few days. We have been praying and praying but didn't have online capability for the last several days so we were happy to see the positive update. Keep feeling God's arms around you and healing and we will keep praying.
Terri and Charles
Dear Baby Drew,
It is great to see those eyes of yours! Tia has been telling her friends to be keeping you in their prayers at school. She is making a poster of your journey to share with her science class to share with her class about what you have been going through. We are very anxious for you to get back to Kalispell so we can hold you again.
See you soon!
Love,
Kelly and Tia Braun
Hello little grandson
I am so happy to hear you are doing better. I send my kisses every day through mom, she better be giving them to you. I pray you get stronger every day so you can go home to join your sisters and your Aunt Mimi. When you get home and are doing better Poppy and I will try and get up to see you as soon as we can. God is holding your little hand every day to help pull you through this. He pulls a little harder every day to get you HOME!!!
I will be praying for you.
Loves and Kisses, Your Neno
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