Pray for Baby Lukas

 

August 15th – Lylah welcomed little brother Lukas Stephen Matthew into this world. It was only 5 days later when Lukas was rushed by STARS to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. His organs had already begun to shut down. After numerous tests for infections, nothing came back positive. A few days later and s...tabilized; it was diagnosed that Lukas had a devastating condition called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome or better known as HLHS. In HLHS, the left side of the heart – including the Aorta, Aortic Valve, Left Ventricle and the Mitral Valve are underdeveloped. This was not found in utero. He will need 3 reconstructive heart surgeries over the next 2 years. The first surgery called the Norwood Sano Procedure would take place as soon as Lukas was strong enough. The second called The Glenn Procedure will be at the age of 4-6 months and the 3rd surgery called the Fontan Procedure at around 2 years. On August 29th Lukas was ready to have the 1st of his 3 surgeries. The surgery performed by Dr. Rebekya was completed in about 4 1/2 hours, and was then followed by 3 attempts to take Lukas off the heart & lung bypass he was on during surgery. Lukas came out with a very long road ahead of him. Over the next 9 days he would then be on ECMO (form of life support) and from there it would lead him down a long road of complications. Some of the post-operative complications that Lukas has had to overcome have included a hole in his right lung, a chronic collapsing left lung; poor kidney function resulting in needed dialysis, and lastly a stroke which unfortunately led to damage in the right cerebral hemisphere of his brain. This portion of the brain controls abilities such as moving, tasting, touching, hearing, seeing, behaving, and thinking. However there have been a number of Doctors and Nurses, commenting on how resilient babies are, and how their brains can re-map themselves. We are seeing it already in his movement. Days after the stroke, Lukas had been diagnosed with Hemiplegia; the condition of paralysis on one full side of the body. But as days go by, he has been moving his left side more and more; which is something the neurology team didn’t expect to happen at this point. With everything Lukas has overcome so far, we know it’s only from the power of prayer and the strength of God that Lukas is still with us today. And we continue to believe that we will see God’s miracle work in our lives for years to come.

 

lukey is doing good today! Please keep praying!