Benefit Dinner For Audree Gomez

Here at Kiss Fm we LOVE and Care for our community. I've done radio in a handful of cities and by far Amarillo has definitely been the most loving city I have done radio in! When one of our Amarillo families are in need of help I love that everyone gets together and helps out. The staff from Kiss Fm has volunteered many times to help many families out across the pan-handle. Kiss Fm is also a big part of the Children's Miracle Network radio-thon every year. Me and my wife attend a life group and the pastor asked everyone to pray for a little girl named Audree Gomez. When I heard about Audree's story it truly brought tears to my eyes. The family is having a benefit dinner for Audree Gomez on February 25, from 6:00 - 9:00 pm.  The benefit is happening at the San Jacinto Christian Academy.

Please read Audree Gomez story

"Wednesday, October 5, 2011, began as any other day for our family. Kimberly and Mark went to work, Marky and Avaree went to school and Grammy (Faunette Stocker) kept Audree. Around noon, Mark picked Audree up and spent the afternoon and evening with his parents. After school, we took the kids to Kid's Zone at our church and then went out to eat with Papa (Jeff Stocker). During dinner Kimberly not...iced that something seemed "off" with Audree. She sounded funny when she was breathing and her cry sounded different. We decided it was a good idea to take her to the ER in Amarillo. At the ER the nurses initially were skeptical that anything was wrong with Audree. She was not running a fever and she was all smiles. However, Kimberly was insistent that something was off (THANK YOU GOD FOR THOSE NUDGES). A doctor passing through the triage area decided he would just take a quick listen... probably to pacify Momma :) However, after listening to Audree he told the nurses to get Audree into a room and not to allow any fluids. After running all kinds of tests and xrays (which all came back negative), the ER DR determined she had an Upper Respiratory Infection and sent us home with breathing treatments. Thursday passed with Audree sleeping alot, barely eating, and doing breathing treatments. On Friday, Kimberly returned to work and left the kids with her Aunt Aline (Thank God for Aunts and Grammy's who are willing to watch our kids!) Kimberly called to check on Audree around 9:30 and Aunt Aline reported that she only ate 1 oz of her bottle and was sound asleep. Once again, Kimberly (feeling those nudges from God) decided to check in with our Pediatricians. After hearing about Audree's situation, they immediately told Kimberly to bring Audree in ASAP. Once Kimberly got Audree to the pediatrician, Audree's oxygen saturation (O2 sats) were at 83%. After 2 breathing treatments with oxygen hooked into the mask her O2 sats had barely reached 89%. Audree was then taken to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at BSA by ambulance. Audree was placed on the High Flow Nasal Cannula and watched very closely. Her heart rate ranged from 178-198 and she struggled to breathe. She had a spinal tap, blood tests, RSV, Flu tests and every other test imagineable... all coming back negative. The PICU Dr determined that Audree had a severe laryngotracheal bronchial infection and a urinary tract infection. He began treating her for these conditions. On Saturday, we had just come to the decision of placing a feeding tube, since Audree was not eating because of her high respiratory rate. At this point, the Dr kept staring at her monitor. We could see his gears turning and he asked the nurse what Audree's resting heart rate had been. She never really had a resting heart rate because she was so irritable, but the lowest we had seen it was 178. The Dr talked to us about his concern that the heart rate was too high and the need for an Echocardiogram and an EKG. He walked us through the steps for these procedures then left the room to schedule them. No sooner than he walked out did we hear him ask the ECHO tech what he was doing on the floor! (WOW GOD!!) Within an hour, the ECHO was complete and the Dr came in with the news that changed our world.

AUDREE HAS A CONDITION CALLED DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY likely caused by a virus that was attacking her heart.Basically, the left side of her heart is twice its normal size and only works at less than 50%.

At this point he explained that the cardiologist would be in the discuss this condition and the steps that we would need to take. We spent the next 4 days in the ICU, weaning Audree off of the high flow nasal cannula, starting her on heart medications and coming to terms that our baby girl's heart was not working properly and we would be working closely with her cardiologist for the next year to get her heart working again. On Wednesday, October 12, we were discharged from the PICU with followups scheduled with our pediatrician and cardiologist that next week.
On Friday, October 14 we began to notice that Audree was not eating well again and was struggling to breathe. So we headed back up to the ER. Late that night we were once again admitted to the PICU. At this point Audree's new cardiologist Dr Q. (partners with the initial cardiologist) and the PICU Dr began to have new ECHOs and EKGs done. Dr Q discussed with us the need for an angiogram (catheterization of the heart) to locate the end point of Audree's right coronary artery. The plan was to send us to Lubbock for the procedure. On Sunday, October 16, after Audree had been eating well again and her breathing was back under control, we were discharged from the PICU. Once we got home we sat down to eat lunch with Papa, Grammy, Marky and Avaree. After a relaxing meal and some down time, Grammy handed us a check from some dear friends. We were shocked/humbled/greatful/blessed by their generosity!! WITHIN AN HOUR, Dr. Q. called and told us that instead of going to Lubbock, we needed to get Audree to Children's Medical Center in Dallas ASAP. He did not want her driving, so he had arranged for a medical flight to Dallas.

(HUGE HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to the nurses, doctors, and staff at BSA PICU!! They took patient/family care to the HIGHEST level! They are awesome and were such a blessing to our family!!!!!)

On Monday October 17 Kimberly and Audree were going to fly to Dallas in the medical plane, while Mark drove down. That morning the flight was delayed from 8:00 am til 2:00pm! Once we arrived at the hospital, we learned that the plane was still in Omaha and would have to go back to Dallas before coming back to Amarillo... the flight would not be available until 6:00pm! Fortunately there was a local crew APOLLO who would be able to fly Kimberly and Audree to Dallas within 30 minutes! AND MARK was also able to fly too!!!! (WOW GOD!!)
The ambulance crew and the APOLLO crew were absolutely awesome and took such good care of us!

Monday was a pretty rough day, but NOTHING could have prepared us for Tuesday.... the day our world was drastically altered.

On Tuesday, October 18, Audree had another ECHO done. Later that day, Dr. Mahony came in to discuss the results with us. She told us that after reviewing all of Audree's history and tests they had come to the conclusion that Audree's dilated cardiomyopathy was a congenital heart condition. She explained that often the cases of cardiomyopathy that were caused by a virus would heal with medications over time. The likelihood of congenital cardiomyopathy healing is very unlikely and we would need to begin looking at the long term need for a heart transplant. We would continue to hope and pray that the medications might heal her heart, but we were to prepare for the very likely chance that it would not. This news shook us to our cores...
She also discussed the need to have Kimberly, Mark, Marky and Ava checked for this condition! Thankfully, all of our tests came back normal! This condition seems to be unique to Audree and not genetic.

We spent the rest of the day processing the news and doing more blood work and the first of many many tests to come.

Initially, the Cardiologists thought we were looking at a 6-8 week time frame to determine if the new regiment of medications that Audree was taking would in fact begin to "fix" her heart. However, after meeting with the transplant team and going through the transplant evaluation, it was determined that Audree would not make it out of her toddler years without the heart transplant. Audree was placed on the heart transplant waiting list on November 10, 2011. She and Kimberly are living in Dallas until she receives a new heart; while Mark, Marky, and Avaree are working, going to school, and living in the Amarillo area.

While we are heartbroken for our precious angel baby, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that GOD is in control. He created Audree's inmost being and knows the exact number of hairs on her head. He LOVES her even more than we do! He has a purpose for her life. We know that He gave her to us to love and to cherish each moment with her. We have laid Audree at the feet of God, knowing that He is the Great Physician. He can heal her in a miraculous way, He can use the medication to heal her heart, He can heal her by giving her a new heart in the transplant process, or He can call her home to Him. No Matter the outcome, we believe that He will carry us through. Please continue to pray for our precious girl, for us, for her big brother and sister Marky and Ava, for our extended family... her grandparents, her aunts, uncles, cousins and our friends. We are asking for THE PEACE that PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING. We are seeking God's will and trusting Him.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and encouragement throughout this difficult time in our lives."