Our family is so excited to be participating in the 2017 CHOC Walk in the Park at the Disneyland Resort on August 27th to raise funds for CHOC Children's Hospital! We are forever grateful for CHOC and the care they gave Ryan in his first few months of life. We never expected to be there but it truly made all the difference. The fundraising efforts of the CHOC Walk makes an immediate impact on families going through the most challenging time in their lives. CHOC provides the highest level of care not only to patients, but also to the siblings, parents, and extended family that make up their critical support teams. We as parents truly felt supported in so many ways during Ryan's 120 days in the NICU. They always took the time to answer our questions and made us feel more comfortable when we were with Ryan. For those of you who don't know Ryan's story, we'd like to share it with you. Ryan was born at exactly 27 weeks but his story begins much earlier than that. At only 13 weeks along, Danielle was diagnosed with a sub chorionic hemorrhage. Doctors told us that although it was not directly affecting the baby at that moment, it could possibly lead to premature birth. She was placed on strict bed rest in the hopes that the hemorrhage would eventually dissolve. Much to our dismay, the sub chorionic hemorrhage continued to grow and threaten the survival of Ryan. This lead to many unnerving and scary trips to the emergency room where there was little to nothing that the medical staff could do. At 20 weeks, Danielle was finally admitted to the hospital for continuous monitoring. Spending Christmas and New Years away from our first born was something we don't wish on anyone else but seeing the weeks pass by gave us more hope that our little one might make it to viability of 24 weeks. After a series of rapid changes, Danielle’s water broke at 26 weeks and 5 days. Everything was done to keep Ryan inside but unfortunately Ryan's heart stopped twice due to a full abruption of the placenta and so he was delivered via emergency C-section at only 27 weeks on January 31st, 2016. Ryan fought for 120 days at CHOC's Small Baby Unit and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (SBU/NICU). There were many ups and downs during our stay. Ryan had a hard time breathing on his own. We watched him move from a ventilator, to a bubble cpap, and then finally on to a nasal cannula. He received countless breathing treatments and steroids. He had a developmental therapist work with him on learning to feed by mouth. Ryan had so much to overcome from being born so early. Although it was difficult, his team of doctors, nurses, and therapist were always kind, and took the time to explain each procedure or involve us in someway. Ryan is now at home and is thriving. He still has monthly appointments with his pulmonologist and we are happy to report that Ryan is now completely off his oxygen. He also has to check in with his cardiologist every six months and will meet with a Developmental therapist to me make sure he is meeting his milestones. Our sweet little guy is walking, practically running everywhere with a smile on his face. We know that is possible because if the amazing people at CHOC. Join us and help us to raise money so that other families can have a happy ending just like ours. Many Thanks, Jared & Danielle McLeod