Hope to Thrive

     Married in 2003, the last thing Joseph and Shondrea were expecting before their 10th Anniversary was to find out that they were naturally and surprisingly pregnant with a set of fraternal twin girls. They were overjoyed and scared silly. The due date was set for August 30. Unfortunately, Shondrea developed a life threatening syndrome called HELLP (http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/hellpsyndrome.html,) and she was transferred to UNC Hospitals. It is speculated by the doctors that in this time frame McKenzie and McKayla suffered their traumatic brain injuries while in utero. Both girls were delivered by emergency c-section in the morning hours of July 17, 2013. Both daughters were kept in the NCCC of UNC Children's Hospital until September 24, 2014 when both girls were released into the care of their parents.

     A few weeks after being born, the doctors began to become concerned in the fact that neither McKenzie or McKayla were taking to a nipple well at all.  Shondrea and Joe were still hopeful thinking that their daughters just needed more time.  The concerned doctors requested of the parents permisson to run gentic tests as well as do MRIs.  The overjoyed parents continued to try to feed McKenzie and McKayla although the children were not eating the normal quanity they needed while waiting for the test results.  Thanks to the Nasogastric (NG) feeding tubes that ran through the girls' noses to their stomachs, the McKenzie and McKayla were able to get the nutrition they weren't getting by mouth.  It was during a routine visit during the day that Shondrea and Joe were told the news that their daughters had brain damage from what the MRIs had shown.  Speculation was that it was during the HELLP Syndrome that the damage occurred.  A few more weeks of trying to get the girls to eat by mouth led to both McKenzie and McKayla to get G-tubes (http://www.chop.edu/service/surgery-general-thoracic-and-fetal/conditions-we-treat/pediatric-surgery-gastrostomy-tubes.html.)  A week later McKenzie and McKayla went home.  Their parents had been trained on how to use the required feeding pumps and quickly learned a little hands-on there at the "Sleep Room" in the NCCC of UNC Children's Hospital.  Finally, the whole family went home, and  they settled in to their new life going back and forth to Chapel Hill for appointments at UNC for McKenzie and McKayla.

     April 1, 2014, a visit to UNC Children's Hospital's Cardiac Clinic for McKenzie floored Shondrea and Joe.  After several tests, the Cardiologist came in and told them that McKenzie needed to have surgery on her heart to close a hole that is located just about in the middle of her heart.  Shondrea and Joe knew that their daughter had a hole in her heart, but they didn't expect to hear that she would have to surgery to close the hole.  People live every day with a hole in their heart and do fine.  The hole's location is what makes it so important for the surgery to be performed.
   
     "HOPE TO THRIVE" has even more meaning to the family of McKenzie and McKayla now.  Shondrea and Joe want nothing more than to see their daughters thrive and live happy lives.  Thank you for your time as you read their story and thank you for any assistance that you can provide to their cause even if it is nothing more than sharing their story of HOPE with others.