Support Cove Hess

On the morning of April 1st, we woke to our youngest son terribly sick in his bassinet. He was 5 months old at this time. We jumped in the car and headed to the hospital. His breathing stopped in the car causing his heart to stop. We started CPR in the car and made it to the hospital where ER staff took over. Seven rounds of CPR later (the last round doctors normally do before “calling it”) Cove’s heart began to beat again. God had truly blessed us with our son coming back to us.

We were ushered into the room to see our miracle child. He was surrounded by caring and concerned ER staff. We both held his hand and stood by his side singing and talking with him. We stayed in the hospital two weeks working with doctors and nurses to figure out the best plan for Cove. At this point in his journey, he was retaining fluids making him 40 pounds at 5 months old. His lungs were struggling with all this extra fluid and pressure. He was ventilated but was still showing that he wanted to breath over the vent. This was something we took as a sign that he was not done fighting.

We were pulled into a room and told the worst news possible that only his brain stem was untouched by damage, leaving our son very disabled. It was presumed that his future would be very dim. Our faith kept us moving forward. The doctors pushed for hospice care for our son because his kidney and liver levels were poor, he was full of extra fluid, and his brain had been terribly damaged. We took a moment to pause and pray and ended up choosing to seek dialysis for Cove.

We felt in our hearts we were not done letting Cove fight. His extra fluid was gone with-in two weeks of dialysis and his liver and kidney levels returned to normal! Cove’s breathing tube was removed after about a month, and he was able to breathe on his own! We know that Cove has a long, difficult journey ahead of him, so we continue to search for every possible treatment option available in order to give him the greatest opportunity for a bright and independent future.

We discovered Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and learned that it has been extremely successful in treating people who suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury. In many cases, it has improved the client’s fine and gross motor skills, speech, thinking (cognition), memory, physical healing, etc. We started taking Cove for HBOT treatment at a center in Michigan.

Cove is now 9 months old and still on a long road to recovery. He’s learning how to lift his head on his own and loves moving his arms around however he can. He can’t move much but loves to look side to side and snuggle. He eats from a feeding tube but with speech therapy and practice we’re hoping that he’ll be able to eat in the future. On occasion we get a sweet smile and babble. This is all after just 1 round of 40 hyperbaric oxygen treatments!

We’ve decided to let Cove show us what he wants and not let doctors set limits for him. He already does so much more than we were told was possible. He’s a lucky little boy who is surrounded by love and faith. His future will be bright. We would love to move forward with more oxygen treatments because Cove is responding so well to it. We’ve recently learned that there is a non-profit facility even closer to us right here in Northwest Ohio that we can go to called Sara’s Garden that specializes in working with clients with traumatic brain injuries.

Unfortunately, in the United States insurance companies do not recognize HBOT as being therapeutic for the treatment of TBI and therefore will not cover the cost for treatments. That is why we could really use your help. HBOT for TBI is only $100 per hour at Sara’s Garden. However, since our plan is for him to receive at least 40 HBOT treatments that cost adds up quickly.

If you could assist us with the cost (or even just part of the cost) of a single $100 HBOT treatment it would help reduce our overall expenses greatly. 100% of the funds received go into an account in Cove’s name and will be used for his treatments. Any contribution made would be considered a tax-deductible donation as Sara’s Garden is a 501(c)(3) non-profit facility. Checks can be made out to Sara’s Garden with Cove’s name on a sheet of paper accompanying the check. Please do NOT write his name directly on the check. You can also donate online via credit card by clicking on the link below.

Thank you so much for considering the support of Cove’s treatments at Sara’s Garden.

Trenton & Victoria Hess