MEET THE GREGORY FAMILY life changed in an instant for two-year-old liam and the gregory family Jessica and Laramy Gregory’s 2-year-old son, to revive him. As soon as they did, he was Liam, hadn’t felt well for a few months. After taken into surgery, where doctors installed an a bout of coughing in July of 2015, doctors extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) diagnosed him with what they thought was machine that pumps and oxygenates blood. reactive airway disease. However, on September That evening, Jessica and Laramy heard the 30, something was very wrong. After visiting devastating news that their 21-month-old son the doctor, Liam was taken to a hospital in their would need a heart transplant. hometown of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. There, they were told that Liam would need to be rushed to For the first week, they slept in the hospital St. Louis by ambulance. waiting room, not wanting to leave Liam’s side. Then, a room at the Ronald McDonald House, Jessica rode in the ambulance with Liam, just steps away from the hospital, became and Laramy followed. Upon arriving at SSM available, and the Gregory family moved into Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, their home-away-from-home. Liam’s heart was failing. He experienced cardiac arrest, but doctors and nurses worked tirelessly In mid-October, after two weeks of the ECMO treatment and a second, 10-hour surgery, Liam “He’s always been a tough kid,” says Laramy. received a Berlin Heart – a blood-pumping “If anybody can get through this, it’s him.” device that helps young children with heart failure as they await a transplant. Only about Here at RMHC St. Louis, we couldn’t be more 1,000 children worldwide have received a Berlin excited about Liam’s amazing recovery! Best of Heart, which the FDA approved last year. luck, Liam! Though he still needed the ventilator, Liam began to improve almost immediately. By early November, Jessica and Laramy were able to hold and hug their son for the first time in over a month. On Christmas day, Liam finally received the brand new heart that he needed to survive and the family has since returned home. .