The Birge Family

Initial Background

"Our world shifted on May 7th, when a 26-week scan revealed our son Nolan had left-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia. What could have been a devastating diagnosis became the moment we went into full research mode. We quickly learned that where you receive care changes everything, so we decided to leave our home in Littleton, Colorado, and relocate to St. Petersburg, Florida, to be under the care of Dr. David Kays and his team at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. We arrived on May 31st so Nolan could receive the weekly monitoring his condition demanded, and on July 27th, our little fighter was born. Nolan has been thriving from the very start, holding the lowest ventilator settings, protected in part by a hernia sac that kept his herniated organs away from his lungs. On July 31st, Dr. Kays' team (specifically Dr. Keith Thatch), repaired his diaphragm, and within 48 hours, Nolan is back at those same low settings. At just six days old, we are already talking about extubation. This grant helps carry us through housing, groceries, Nolan's NICU stay, pet care back home, and eventually the 30+ hour drive home to Colorado. Every dollar of support means one less dollar of stress between now and the day we finally bring our son home. We are endlessly grateful."

9/1/2026

"On July 27, 2026, Nolan was born via C-section, immediately intubated, and rushed away from us to be stabilized. Although we didn't get the typical birth experience of immediate skin-to-skin and bonding, we were incredibly thankful to hear him cry the moment he was born. He was working those lungs! That night, the doctors told us, "This baby doesn't know he has CDH." He was breathing over his ventilator so well that the medical team had to rethink their approach with him. And then our little guy continued to fight and fly through everything: intubation, surgery, extubation, CPAP, oxygen, weaning off multiple heavy sedation medications, learning to orally feed, and ultimately getting discharged in 18 days (far sooner than we ever expected). His thoracoscopic repair went beautifully, and he'll go on to have normal sized lungs. His lungs will need some extra help adjusting to the altitude in CO, so he'll be on supplemental oxygen for his first few months. We are SO proud of our little nugget and endlessly grateful to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and their incredible CDH team. Most of all, we are so happy to be home with our Nolan."