Jenae and Nate Arnold were ecstatic and overjoyed to announce they were expecting their first child, a baby girl, this upcoming May 2023. On January 10th, they had their 20 week ultrasound where they couldn’t full visualize babies heart and they were referred to maternal fetal medicine specialists to get better pictures. They were both optimistic that they just weren’t able to get good pictures and everything would be ok. On January 17th, their lives were forever changed. Through images on a fetal echocardiogram, they learned that their unborn daughter, Collins, has a rare, severe, congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). HLHS is a congenital heart defect that occurs in less than 1% of babies with no identified cause despite years of research. Unfortunately, this defect is not compatible with life unless surgically corrected shortly after birth. They quickly learned this is not something that can be taken care of locally, and they would need to establish care with a specialist at Mayo/Children’s Minnesota. Baby Collins will require a series of 3 open heart surgeries in the first few years of life with the first one being in the first week of life.
Jenae will have to relocate to Minneapolis at 36 weeks gestation so baby can safely be delivered there and stabilized until she has her first open heart surgery. Nate plans to relocate when baby arrives. The first surgery (the Norwood) is completed to reroute blood vessels to allow the ventricle to more efficiently pump blood to the rest of the body, which will require an extensive stay in the NICU (at least 6 weeks). Around 4-6 months of age, she will undergo another open heart procedure (the Glenn) requiring yet another NICU stay. The 3rd surgery (the Fontan) will be completed around 2-4 years of age depending on how things go with the 2 prior surgeries.

While the first few years of life may be complex and overwhelming, they know that they have a crew of people to support them and baby Collins along the way.  Lend A Hand Up will boost your online donation 20% – which makes your gift go even further!  Cash/Check gifts should be gifted directly to Nate and Jenae.