Grayson is an incredibly resilient boy. He is full of life and energy and never lets anything hold him back. But since the very beginning, his life hasn’t been easy. Grayson was born with an undetected congenital heart defect, and ever since, the hospital has been a constant in his life.
Before he was born, his mom Ashley never suspected that her baby’s future would be a long journey with hospitalization after hospitalization. While she had a healthy pregnancy, Grayson’s routine newborn screening revealed concerns, and he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect that meant he would need surgery at just two months old. The surgery was supposed to be uncomplicated. It should have only needed to be done once, and then Grayson was expected to have a typical childhood. But complications followed, and through months of hospitalizations, Ashley and her husband were often left wondering what was wrong with their baby while doctors tried to figure out why he wasn’t healing as expected.
“We were completely unprepared and felt lost in the hospital system,” Ashley said. “He would be ok and then all of a sudden, he would not be ok. We just felt lost.”
By the time Grayson was one year old, he was diagnosed with failure to thrive and intestinal failure and was placed on TPN. For his parents, there were so many unknowns, and expenses like gas, groceries, and housing costs were starting to catch up with them.
“We were like so many parents who thought, ‘We’re ok, we can figure this out,’”
Ashley said.
Around this same time, during a hospital admission, a social worker approached Ashley, saying, “You never ask for anything. What can we do for you?” Ashley reassured her that they were ok, but the social worker dug deeper, asking questions like, “Where do you live? How far are you traveling to get to the hospital?” She listened to Ashley’s experience and a few minutes later, came back with gas and grocery cards and said, “There’s an organization that wants to help.”
Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation became a constant source of support for Grayson and his family. Beyond gas and grocery cards, RMCHF supported them with housing costs and offered much-needed comfort through its two hospital dogs, Posey and Lemon. Their family was also part of RMCHF’s Hope for the Holidays program and helped Grayson—a Paw Patrol fanatic—go see Paw Patrol Live, a special opportunity to leave the hospital behind and just get to be a kid again.
“We laughed, danced, and made memories that felt, for a moment, untouched by the weight of medical complexity,” Ashley shared.
While Grayson’s medical journey continues, he is a spunky, resilient little boy who keeps up with his siblings and even plays basketball and football like any boy his age.
For his family, the support from the community at Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation has extended far beyond their tangible needs, and they are extremely grateful.
“There is no way to fully repay what they have given us — not just in resources, but in the community, the village, and the family they have become to us,” Ashley said.
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Thank you to our community for making stories like this possible! To learn more about how you can get involved and help us support sick kids and their families, visit rmchildren.org/ways-to-give.