Philip McDevitt

Baby Philip Needs Your Help!

Philip McDevitt, the one-and-a-half-year-old son of James and Katya McDevitt, is currently waiting for a life-saving heart transplant.

In utero, Philip was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), functionally negating the use of his left heart ventricle. Within hours of Philip’s birth, he underwent two open heart surgeries, and although initially planned, Philip’s heart was unfortunately not strong enough for what would have been the third and final surgery. After spending his first four months of life in the hospital, Philip was released to a wonderful year of growing and learning at home with his parents and two older sisters – Sasha and Mila.

Philip is a happy and smiley child with brilliantly rosy cheeks, crawling and playing, starting to talk and walk, and bringing joy to everyone around him. However, while family was gathered to celebrate Memorial Day, an ear infection took hold and taxed his infant immune system to the point of heart failure. He has lived at the hospital ever since that late Sunday holiday evening on the 1A (highest priority) list for a heart transplant. Even connected to five monitors, oxygen, and IV, he is a fun and playful child, reminding us all to appreciate every minute of this miraculous life.

With this life-saving heart transplant, Philip will be able to continue to grow and develop as other children; however, this next chapter will be extremely challenging financially for his family. Medical bills have already begun to mount yet James’ and Katya’s concern stretches well beyond the present to a time when Philip is older and no longer on his Dad’s insurance. Immediate family have vowed to help with as much as possible of the non-medical expenses such as child care costs incurred by the long-term hospital stay, but in the hope of a young life and a future saved, we reach out to the gracious hearts of the local and national communities. A net cast widely can hopefully fish enough burden-free gifts to save Philip’s and his family’s futures from financial ruin.

To help with the financial burden of uninsured expenses, a fundraising campaign has been established in honor of Philip McDevitt with Help Hope Live, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to help patients and families in need for more than 30 years. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law and are held by Help Hope Live in the
Southwest Heart Transplant Fund in honor of Philip McDevitt. Donations are allocated by Help Hope
Live based on financial need for medical expenses. Please consider making a contribution today.

For credit card donations, please click the yellow GIVE button.

On behalf of Philip and his family, we thank you in advance for your kind consideration.

Gratefully,
Shana L. McDevitt (James’ sister)