BabyDrew: One boy and his Special Day

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

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

One boy and his Special Day

Hello everyone,

I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted. Things have been going very well. I have been off oxygen for about 2 months and off my feeding tube for about a month and a half. As my mommy and daddy say, I'm tubeless. Yay!

On July 10th we celebrated my first birthday. Me, my mommy, and my daddy all had a cold, so we didn't do much. We waited until the 18th and then we had my party. My mommy and daddy are so happy to celebrate my first year and all my accomplishments. They love me so much and are so very thankful for all the blessings God has given us.

Thank you to all my friends out there who continue to follow my story and pray for me. I will work on getting better at updating my blog on a more regular basis.

Please remember to say a prayer for me.

Love, Baby Drew and Family

3 comments:

Susie Maxwell said...: Happy Birthday sweet boy! -and way to go being 'tubeless'! You're getting so big!; July 21, 2009 at 10:24 PM
grandma great said...: Happy Birthday little baby boy.
You are looking so good. I can
hardly wait to see you in person
little great grandbaby. Wish you
weren't so far away from me. It has been a long journey from the
first of this blogspot. We are so
happy that you are here. God Bless
You Special Little Baby and May He
Always hold you in His Hand.
Love forever, Grandma Great; July 24, 2009 at 9:37 PM
Mimi said...: Oh happy birthday little Man!! You look so great! Congrats on getting rid of the tube- doesn't it feel so much better now??; August 12, 2009 at 11:28 PM