Ollie's Story

Oliver is a sweet, loving, smart little boy who loves to be loved and cuddled. He enjoys making other people laugh and loves his pets and his siblings. He is the light of our lives and has taught us so much about what is important in life. Despite all his health issues, he always has a smile on his face and is the most lovable and accepting person. 

His health journey has been a rocky one. In addition to his rare heart defect, HLHS, he had many other cardiac abnormalities along with it. He never had an easy recovery after his surgeries and suffered a near fatal cardiac arrest at 4 months old. The medical team at CHOP performed CPR for 35 minutes and placed him on ECMO. Oliver truly has come a long way from the doctors telling us he would never eat, drink, move or function normally his own. Despite his odds, and overcoming many obstacles, Oliver does not use a feeding tube and is learning how to walk. He even just completed his first year of public school (pre-school). He is happy and enjoys life, something we were always so worried would never be. 

Oliver’s next and hopefully final open-heart surgery is scheduled for early July ‘25. Recently, we were fortunate enough to receive Oliver’s Make-A-Wish - a family trip to warm Caribbean water. Oliver was able to scoot freely in the water with his sister, meet a dolphin (wow did he love that- especially the fart noises she made! LOL!!) and get away from the cold winter. While we do not know what the outcome will be of his final surgery, we are so grateful to have made these memories as a family.

Ollie spent a total of 163 days in the hospital (with more days ahead). We witnessed many families struggling to keep up with 'life' in addition to circumstances that their children were experiencing. We (Emily, Mom, and Danny, Dad) knew very early on that being present at the hospital, at Ollie's bedside, increased his chances of a positive outcome tremendously. This was difficult for us because we work full-time and run a small business. We were fortunate to have a support system where many others do not. There is a substantial need for an organization like Rocky's House. Several months’ worth of financial assistance to families with critically ill children would give these families the best opportunity to stay in their home & make it home.