Kody Tobler

I recently got back in touch with my childhood next door neighbour through Facebook. She was a grade or two below me at school and we used to play at each others houses pretty frequently, back when our parents would send us to each others places for a cup of sugar. I remember Mum telling me a couple of years ago that her son, Kody, was born with some health complications but at the time, I didn't really think much more about it and I never asked after them. 

 

I've been reading about Kody on his blog and his Facebook support page over the past couple of days (and there are a few newspaper articles about him if you google him too).  Kody is going on three years old and he has lived his entire life in the hospital. He was born with part of his bowel outside of his body and due to the damage, it needed to be removed leaving him with short bowel syndrome.

One of the newpaper articles written about Kody brought tears to my eyes. It started:

In Kody Tobler’s Warilla bedroom the toys are gathering dust and the crib has never been slept in. The quiet, empty room is not an easy sight for parents Kristy and Justin to bear, but they can’t complain. 

Theirs is a miracle baby.

I know now what it is like to have an empty bed in the house - Maddy's bed has become a storage place for guest pillows and blankets, and I recently went through her wardrobe, taking out unworn newborn sized clothes that I bought for her that she will never wear since she is now too big. And sometimes it seems like these four months have been so hard. But compared to Kody's family, we are SO blessed that it's only been four months and Maddy will be home soon.

Kody still faces tremendous health issues on a daily basis and needs a bowel and liver transplant - however this operation is not performed in New South Wales, so what he really needs is a miracle. His internal organs are already deteriorating.

Kody's family would love to bring him home, however the financial cost of having him at home would be enormous. The family have fundraiser sausage sizzles once a month near Lake Illawarra foreshore in my hometown of Wollongong, Australia so that they can afford to bring him home. If you are near there, please look up Kody's Facebook support page and see if you can go along to one of them. 

If there is any way that you can help to support this family, either financially or through your prayers, you can follow them on Facebook. This boy should be with his family.