The Turcotte Family
At 18
weeks of pregnancy we found my baby had a birth defect called gastroschisis. We
had to prepare to have a baby that would have surgeries in the first few
days of life, spend anywhere from six months to a year in the NICU, and
possibly be born premature.
The pregnancy was
filled with ultrasounds, steroids, NICU tours, surgeon meetings, etc. During
those months the UMass Memorial Medical Center staff & NICU team prepared
us as much as they could.
Josh
was born at 34 weeks with no sign of the defect and we all thought it was a
miracle. It was the surgical team that told us it was worse than we thought.
Josh had Short Bowel Syndrome; he had lost most of his intestines and had a 70%
chance of survival.
The
team at the NICU gave such great care to Josh that he was home at three months
old, was doing well and growing. Ten years have gone by and through all of his
complications from SBS, including Crohns Disease, Josh still benefits from the
care he received in the NICU. If it weren’t for the top care given to him his
quality of life would be greatly diminished. None of this care would have been
available without March of Dimes and the work and research they have done. We
owe them for keeping our son alive and enabling him to do better than the statistics say he should.
Josh, Age 10
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