CDH International’s featured patient of the week is George Kneip. He is the son of Mary Catherine and Stephen Kneip.
The Kneip family shared this about their precious son on their Caring Bridge site, “George Kayser Kneip was born on April 14th at 8:34am at Texas Children’s in Houston, TX. George was diagnosed at 33 weeks with a rare right side congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). Mary Catherine and Stephen relocated to Houston at 34 weeks so that George could receive care at Texas Children’s. George went straight to the NICU after birth, and has been a fighter ever since. He had his CDH repair surgery on April 17th, and has continued to make small improvements. We have been told that there are a lot of ups and downs during this journey, and we have witnessed that already. There are no guarantees, but we remain optimistic that George will get through this so that we can ultimately bring him back home to Shreveport.
We knew George was special, but we didn’t realize how special he was until we were informed that he also has a rare genetic disorder, Williams Syndrome. This is another very rare condition, and a diagnosis completely unrelated to CDH. We would be interested to know if there is another person in the world presently that was born with a right side CDH and Williams Syndrome! Williams Syndrome will cause developmental delays and learning challenges. However, these often occur side by side with striking verbal abilities, highly social personalities, and an affinity for music. The Williams Syndrome diagnosis and treatment will take a back seat to CDH treatment, as the present effects of CDH are far more serious at the moment.
George has already added depth and meaning to our lives we never before thought possible. God has chosen us to be George’s parents for a reason, and we pray that he continues to give us strength and courage to face the challenges we know lay ahead. Thank you so much to everyone for the well wishes, kind words, and prayers. We can’t wait to bring George back home to meet everyone who already loves him so much!”
Through the family’s heartache and praying for George the family created Bracelets for George that has turned into something much bigger than they planned. From their website, “Bracelets for George started out as a quarantine hobby to make prayer bracelets for family members to pray for Baby George. It quickly turned into requests from friends and extended family eager to show their love and support. We now have orders coming in from across the country… and even from overseas.
We have been overwhelmed by the response to our Bracelets for George fundraiser and are so thankful to everyone. All donations received for the bracelets will go directly to the extensive care of our Baby George and to spread awareness & help causes associated with William Syndrome & CDH.
We cannot thank you enough for your prayers for Baby George!”
Tune into the featured news piece below on baby George and their Bracelets for George, you get to meet George and his beautiful family and their mission to help raise awareness for CDH and William Syndrome. The news piece originally aired 9/28/2020 on Where in the ArkLaTex is Rick Rowe out of Shreveport, LA, with KTBS News.
To read more about Bracelets4George, check out the website at https://www.bracelets4george.com/or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Bracelets4George. You can follow George’s journey at https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/babygeorge.
