BILLINGS — KTVQ is teaming up with Cat Country 102.9 for the 11th annual “Call for Kids” Mediation on Wednesday, April 9. The event aims to raise funds for St. Vincent Regional Hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Pediatric Surgery Program, something that two Billings families are grateful to have access to.
Demi Tallon's son Lenox, now a year-and-half old, was born healthy a month early, which Tallon said was a shock. When Lenox was just 18 days old, he stopped breathing in Tallon's arms.
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“We were home for about two weeks, and he stopped breathing at home. And so that was pretty scary," Tallon said recently.
He was taken to St. Vincent Regional Hospital where he was revived twice.
"We didn't really know what was going on and they found out it was something with his heart,” Tallon said. "He also had a hole in his heart and a bicuspid valve."
Doctors were unsure Kayleen Schultz's daughter, Gabby, now 2, would survive after birth.
“Gabby was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which essentially means she is missing her left ventricle,” Schultz said. "Gabby was born in Denver at the children's hospital there, and she had her first open heart surgery at five days old."
Schultz and Tallon connected when both of their babies were in Denver, providing support for each other in a way neither could have imagined. They now are both involved in Montana Brave Hearts, a nonprofit that raises money for research and puts together care packages for Montana families that need to relocate.
“We would just check in on each other every day,” Schultz said. "Demi (Tallon) and I, we joked that we trauma bonded in the hall. We had a good cry together one day, missing our big kids."
Once both families were finally able to return to Billings, they realized the importance of having care for their little ones close to home.
“We prayed and prayed before Gabby was born. Please send us a good cardiologist so we can feel good about living here. Not only us feel good, but our team in Denver feel comfortable with it,” Schultz said. "With her condition especially, it's just like a weight of relief off our chest."
Both mothers said having pediatric cardiologist Dr. Hugh Bigg right down the road has helped them feel more comfortable.
“I've been told, not only by the families, but also by the doctors, their surgeons, interventionalists, that if I wasn't here, they wouldn't have been able to send the kid home as quickly as they did,” Bigg said. "We have patients who have heart transplants, who need to be seen every three months. If we weren't here, they'd be going to Denver or Salt Lake City."
Bigg said he found his "why" in the job with keeping families at home.
“It would be so hard for me to have a doctor down in Denver versus here because I know that I'm able to just call Dr. Bigg at any point. And he is so thorough and really cares about the kids here,” Tallon said. "It's definitely a huge blessing to have really good care here in Billings and know that he's going to be okay with the doctors here."
Call for Kids Mediathon raises money to support families and patients such as Gabby and Lenox. Funds will benefit children's services at St. Vincent Hospital.
To donate, call 406-237-5437 on Wednesday, April 9, text KIDS to 32037 or make a donation online at svhkids.org.
