Children's Hospital Free Care Fund: Noah's Story
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Alan and Emily Troyan couldn't hear the voice of their newborn son, Noah, for the first few weeks of his life.
"He was intubated by the doctors at Children's before he was even born," Emily said.
Noah was born with Pierre Robin Sequence, a condition which left him with a smaller than normal lower jaw, cleft palate and a tongue placed farther back than normal. Not only was he having difficulty breathing, he couldn't eat.
Fortunately, an ultrasound revealed the condition before Noah was born. Surgeons were ready and inserted a feeding tube through his nose, implanted devices in little Noah's jaw then turned them to move his jaw forward.
"It opened up his airway," Emily said. "He was able to be extubated and, because of that, could learn to eat with a bottle."
He took his first bottle on Nov. 4, more than a month after he was born.
"Yeah, that was a little hard, but they're so wonderful, the staff here. They're so accommodating," Alan said.
"I don't think, even knowing what was going to happen, you're ever prepared for the emotional toll of your child being in the hospital," Emily said.
The Butler County couple says they're so grateful to Children's Hospital and are blessed to live close enough for care there. They call the staff their second family.
Dr. Beverly Brozanski, medical director of the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, treated Noah from the night he was born.
"It's great for us, too. To be able to have a multidisciplinary team, to know we're providing the best care with a clinical consensus guideline that is evidence-based and is as good as anywhere else in the country," Brozanski said.
Noah is 10 weeks old and finally went home two weeks ago after he started taking his own bottle.
You can help children in need of medical care whose families can't afford it.
The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation and KDKA are teaming up for the 65th annual Free Care Fund Benefit show. It starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13. It will be broadcast live on KDKA.
