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Watch Sam, Kendall, and Cash's story here.

There's a bridge between two Boston hospitals, and somewhere in the middle of it, a father is running.

Just moments ago, Kendall had given birth to her and Sam's son, Cash. Almost as soon as he arrived, he was whisked away. Sam kissed Kendall on the forehead and took off after the team of doctors wheeling Cash down the hallway, trying to keep up.

He doesn't know yet that his son's heart is about to stop.
 

A Shocking Diagnosis

Rewind several weeks, to Kendall's 36-week ultrasound appointment. About ten minutes in, the sonographer went quiet.

"I don't want to freak you out, but something's wrong with his heart. I'll be right back."

Sam and Kendall looked at each other in the empty room. Every pregnancy before this one had been normal. Their kids were healthy. This had to be a mistake. They texted family right away, asking everyone to pray it was. 

When the doctor came back, she brought two pictures: one of a normal heart, and one of a heart that looked like Cash's. His was built backward. The two main vessels that carry blood in and out were swapped, a condition called transposition of the great arteries. Left alone, it's fatal. Caught and corrected in time, it's survivable.

"You'll need to go down to Boston tomorrow to confirm it," the doctor told them, "but it's looking like he will need surgery in his first week of life."
 

A Sister Steps In

The next day, at Boston Children's, the diagnosis was confirmed. A cardiologist, a social worker, and a financial counselor sat Sam and Kendall down in a conference room and walked them through everything ahead: the surgery, the recovery, the medications he'd need, the follow-up care. Then came the question about insurance. Kendall and Sam didn't have the traditional kind, and the programs the hospital usually pointed families toward, they didn't qualify for. 

So they went home and did the math themselves. Open-heart surgery. A hospital stay with an uncertain end date. Medications. So many unknowns. 

Kendall’s sister quickly stepped in. Before Cash was even born, she started and shared a GiveSendGo fundraiser to help the family through the weeks and months ahead. Support and prayer started pouring in almost immediately. 
 

Baby Cash Makes His Entrance 

Kendall was due June 3, 2023. The date came and went, and the hospital calls started, pushing her to schedule an induction. But she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to wait, that Cash needed the extra time to grow stronger for what was coming. 

‘You’re making unwise decisions,” they said. “You need to get in here. You’re putting your son’s life at risk.”

But Kendall stayed the course, listening for that same voice, until two weeks overdue, she finally felt the release to schedule it. She went in the next day, on June 15th, to give birth.

Labor was comparable to every birth before it, except this time she had to deliver in an operating room. When Cash was born, he was placed on his mother's chest for only a couple minutes, before he was carried across the room to a warming table. Wires everywhere. A breathing tube placed. Then came the transfer to another hospital, across the bridge connecting the two. 
 

Across the Bridge 

Sam leaned down, kissed his wife on the forehead, and chased after the team of six or seven doctors. But somewhere along the way, Cash's breathing tube was bumped out of place, sending him into cardiac arrest. 

At Boston Children's, they wheeled him into an ICU room that filled instantly with more than forty-five people. Doctors began chest compressions. With every push, Sam watched his son's small arms lift off the table. 

"His heart rate is dropping," a nurse told Sam. "You probably need to leave the room."

Sam waited nearly two hours without a word on Cash or his wife, who was experiencing some bleeding after birth. When a nurse finally came for him, she told him Cash had been unresponsive for three minutes before his heart started again. He was stable. 
 

Cash’s Heart Surgery 

Sam and Kendall prayed that day a surgery slot would open up quickly. And it did, for the very next day, June 16. 

"I know it's fast. I know this is probably a shock to you," the surgeon told them.

It wasn't. It was exactly what they'd asked for.

The surgery went well. Most babies have a rough night after a procedure like this. Kendall, Sam, and their community prayed for another miracle, and the rough night doctors warned them to expect never came. Every day after, they joined a small huddle with Cash's medical team and heard some version of the same story: he'd made leaps overnight. 

Underneath all of it, the fundraiser Kendall's sister had started was quietly holding up the rest of their life. Parking. Meals during their stay, and even at home after the fact. The month Sam took off work. The costs that never show up on a hospital bill but pile up anyway. 

"It was something completely off our plate that we didn't need to worry about," Sam said. "It was going to be covered."

But it wasn't only the money that held them steady. Their fundraiser page, also had a Pray button, with a number of its own that kept climbing. 

"It was really beautiful being able to see the Pray button and the numbers just roll in," Kendall said. "As we were seeing the financial outpouring, the Pray button spoke more to us, because we knew that at any given moment, someone somewhere was making sure they were praying for us. We felt so covered." 

Prayers, generosity, and messages of encouragement arrived from their community and from people the family had never met. Some from around the world.
 

The Phone Call that Brought Tears 

A woman from GiveSendGo's Hope Team called them not long after Cash was born, while the weight of everything they'd been through was just beginning to settle. She asked how they were doing, then started praying for them. Everyone on the call got emotional. 

"It felt like the call came at the perfect time," Kendall said. "We were just starting to process everything we'd gone through, and it was like, somebody's checking in on us after the fact. It was so encouraging."

Cash recovered well and got to go home, but then the bills started to flood in. That's when Kendall's other sister called.

"I just have to tell you and encourage you, the Lord told me He's going to take care of it. That you're not going to pay a cent. It's going to be taken care of for you."

And it was. 
 

Cash Celebrates 1 Year and His Heartaversary 

A year later, Cash turned one. His cardiology team cleared his heart as perfectly healthy. He is, by every account, an ordinary toddler now.

"Every one-year-old's birthday is exciting," Kendall said, "but it felt different with him, because we didn't know if he'd make it a year. Had he not gotten that surgery, the reality is he would have died. If this was sixty years ago, we would have lost our child."

The family celebrates two special days and milestones for Cash now. His birthday. And what they call his "Heartaversary": the day of his surgery, when he got a second chance at life.

"You wouldn't be able to tell that he had a heart issue," Sam said. "I'm very thankful for the community that was around us because of GiveSendGo."

"It brought in not only financial help," Kendall said, "but spiritual, emotional, and a ton of encouragement, when we were in one of our lowest points."

No parent wants to watch their child covered in wires and bandages, facing the possibility of losing him. But what Kendall and Sam got in return was a testimony of God's provision and faithfulness through it, and a community that surrounded them with help and hope in their most challenging season.

It started with a sister who saw their need and refused to let them face it alone, who started a fundraiser in mere minutes, shared it with everyone she knew, and watched strangers around the world turn into a community of tangible support and spiritual encouragement overnight.

That's the story behind every GiveSendGo fundraiser. A family facing a diagnosis, a bill, a crisis they didn't choose. And someone (a sister, a friend, a neighbor) who decides they're not going to wait to be asked before they help.

If that's you right now, on either side of that story, you don't have to carry it alone. 

Start a fundraiser for yourself, or for someone you love, and share it with the people who'd want to show up for you. GiveSendGo is here for stories like yours.

You can also watch Sam, Kendall, and Cash's full story here.