Benefit Tournament - July 9th (please read)

[mjk0317]

Guys

I'm looking to have a benefit tournament July 9th for a little angel by the name of Gibson Williams.
please take the time to look at his web page.. I think that you will certainly want to step up and help with this one.
Go ahead and put this date on your calendar.....  I will need help with this one if anyone is willing to donate their time.



Gibson David Williams was born on September 21st, 2009. He is a special boy, and loved across the world. He was born with a disorder known as heterotaxy syndrome which basically means some of his internal organs are on the wrong side of his body. But while he was growing in the womb this syndrome affected the development of his heart and spleen. Instead of having 4 heart chambers like you or I, he ony has 2 (this is a VERY simplified explanation as there are other common issues associated such as small arteries/veins, coarction of the Aorta, a more complex anatomy and asplenia which means he doesn't have a functioning spleen). Because of this condition he has had 3 surgeries to keep him alive and will need more.

The first surgery was an emergency surgery at 4 days old. He was getting too much blood to his lungs and not enough to his body so he became what they call "acidotic", which if not treated immediately can lead to death. They had to go in and put bands on his pulmonary arteries to restrict blood flow to his lungs. Then the real challenge began. He would go on to need a 3 staged surgical procedure to have a chance to make it to adulthood.

The first procedure (2nd surgery) is called the Norwood and happened only 4 days after the pulmonary bands were put in. It consisted of reconstructing part of his Aorta and putting in a shunt to improve blood flow to the body. He was hospitalized for 6 weeks as he got an infection while in the hospital. When he came home was the happiest day of our life.

The second surgery called the Glenn procedure recently took place when Gibson was around 6 months old. They take the Superior Vena Cavae (blood returning from the upper part of the body) and redirect it to bypass the heart and go straight into the lungs, the 3rd surgery will do the same for his lower half. Unfortunately there arose some serious complications with the surgery. When they were going in they damaged the shunt from the first procedure and Gibson had to have CPR while hooking him up to the heart and lung machine. Apart from Gibson's main procedure they were also going to attempt to repair a leaky valve in his heart but did not get a chance to do so because of the complications. They did manage to complete the Glenn procedure and Gibson began to recover. Then 4 days later he began having seizures, it is believed that when they damaged the shunt it caused a hemorrhage in his occipital lobe. They induced a 5 day coma all the while battling his decreased heart function. Our little fighter survived all of this.

He came home 3 weeks later, and we are currently involved in Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapy for him. We are trying to get him eating so we can get him off the feeding pump. He is doing much better than when we brought him home, and are hopeful there is no damage to his brain. To us it looks like he is back to normal...minus the fine motor skills which will come. However only time will tell if there is anything long term. When he came home he was on 14 medicines. We now have him down to 11 and hope to wean him off of others as time progresses. His heart function has improved, although he still has a moderate/severe leaky valve. It is important to note that these procedures are what they call a Palliative Cure. Meaning that it simply prolongs heart function, it does not cure it. Two chambers are simply not enough to do the work of four, and when these children reach adulthood tend to experience heart problems and failure. We hope that Gibson will be able to make it into his 30's, maybe even 40's before needing another heart...and that by then there will be more options for him. He will need continuous heart monitoring throughout his life.


I'm trying to get Central Park in Cumming Ga

Thanks
Jason Flanagan
(678) 577-9792