Elijah was born 4 weeks early on December 24th. He entered this world at 4lbs 11oz and was considered to be an infant with low birth weight. He then spent the following 6 weeks in the hospital where he was treated as a NICU patient. During the families 6 week stay in the hospital they had many tests and lots of bloodwork done. Discovering many of the medical conditions that can come along with a Down Syndrome diagnosis. Elijah has a long list of medical conditions but he is a fighter! His most concerning conditions being his heart defect and valve insufficiency.
Elijah underwent his open heart surgery at MUSC in July of 2022. He was unable to come off bypass and was placed on ECMO for 5 days. Elijah was successfully removed from ECMO on July 17th. 6 days later he had a second repair to fix a cannula site from ECMO that was impeding blood flow in his aorta. After 30 long days in the PCICU Elijah was discharged home! He is a heart warrior and an ECMO survivor