Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Morgan.
Hi Michael, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstories.
Back in 2014, our daughter Jordyn was a perfectly healthy three-month-old baby. Right around Halloween of 2014, the family passed around a stomach bug. The stomach bug got to Jordyn, but it got to her heart, making her heart stop beating. She was rushed to a local hospital and then airlifted to St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She was diagnosed with Myrocroditis of the heart, an infection that attacks the heart. She was then placed on a life-saving machine called Echmo. She was put in a medically induced coma, so this machine would act like her heart and give her heart time to heal. The doctors told us there were three outcomes.
33% of the people will get off the machine and be perfectly fine, 33% will not make it, and 33% will make it but have complications down the road. After five days, she was taken off the machine, and things looked good. After returning home and seeming like things were going in the right direction, Jordyn had another episode where she stopped breathing. Once again, we had to rush her to the hospital and airlift them to the children. After discussing what needed to be done, we gave her a tracheostomy to help her breathe and keep her safe. While during this time, doctors could not figure out what was causing all these issues. After a few years of fighting, Jordyn passed away at 4. After she passed, my wife and I started the Jordyn Morgan Foundation, where we help families with children with medical issues.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
After Jordyn was placed on the ventilator, my wife quit working to take care of her and drive her to multiple doctor’s appointments. It has been one of the bumpiest roads we have ever been on. It was a challenge to deal with insurance and millions of dollars of hospital bills. We also had three other young kids trying to ensure we cared for them while caring for Jordyn.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As a foundation, we try hard to help every type of family. Try to help families that have issues with insurance companies and help them buy equipment or things they can not afford. We also love to lend an ear to families going through the worst time of their lives. Help them by sharing our experiences etc. We are very proud of the number of families that we have been able to help in just a few short years.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc.?
Not really. Lots of life experiences.
Contact Info:
- Website: jordynmorganfoundation.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordynmorganfoundation
