Team Captain Jack

Jack was born at 24 weeks gestation at St. Luke's in Sioux City, IA on September 7, 2013. He only weighed 1lb 8oz and was 12inches long. Due to a chronic lung disease, BPD, at 3 months old he was transferred to Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD to prepare to have a trach put in after Christmas. Eight days after he arrived to Sanford, Jack had his breathing tube removed. 
Despite everything Jack has overcome, Doctors decided to have a trach placement for Jack. He received his trach in early January of 2014. We were preparing for Jack to come home the first week of March, but he contracted pneumonia. This was a major set back for Jack. Then to over complicate matters, while he was healing from the pneumonia, doctors found that the cysts in his lungs were extremely over inflated. The cysts in his right lung were pushing his heart way over to the left and had deflated his left lung. On Friday, March 7, 2014 the doctors told us that Jack would not make it through this. They could not get the cysts to deflate and were in fear the cyst would rupture and kill him instantly. On Saturday, March 8th the doctors called a BPD clinic in Ohio which suggested a different mode of ventilation. Within an hour the cysts were going down.
As the doctors continued to collaborate with Ohio, the BPD clinic in Ohio suggested that Jack be transferred to their facility in Columbus. Ben and I had a care conference with physicians from both hospitals, and together we decided that this move would be the best choice for Jack. Jack moved to Columbus, Ohio on St. Patrick's Day 2014.
After Jack arrived in Ohio he underwent a series of tests including CT scans and a lung function test. The results revealed that Jack does not suffer from BPD. At two months old Jack caught pneumonia, which stunted the growth of his left lung. His right lung compensated for this and moved across his chest to the left side. As this occurred, it also caused his airways to twist, making it difficult for Jack to breathe. Jack's pulmonologist, possibly the best pediatric pulmonologist in the world, has never seen this happen in an infant. This makes it more difficult to predict how long it will be until Jack may be permanently reunited with his family.