JWRitchie76
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hello all,
As some of you may know my wife has been pregnant with our 3rd child and as very few of you know that this child was diagnosed with CDH or Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia very early in the pregnancy. The months have been a wild ride to be sure. I'm happy to announce that on Thursday 2/2/12 at 1237 pm my son, Coen Boyd Ritchie was born. Once he was born the NICU team here in Iowa City at the Children's Hospital immediately took over to get Coen stabilized with his breathing and heart. They did a miraculous job but unfortunately Friday night Coen decided he needed some help with his recovery and gave us a terrible scare in the process. It was decided that Coen would need to be placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO. ECMO is extremely complicated for these little guys and quite frankly the scariest thing I have ever witnessed. During ECMO the machine is circulating and oxygenating the blood through my sons body allowing his heart and lungs to develop until he is strong enough to have surgery for the hernia and be able to breathe on his own. The ironic part to all of this as it pertains to me, a flashaholic and our community is that the ECMO tech's here in Iowa City keep one of those $2 multi-LED lights on their cart so that they can examine the lines carrying the blood for clotting and bubbles and other foreign objects. Now this morning I got to talking to the tech and I handed her my Peak Eiger 10280 with the Nichia 119 high CRI LED and asked if "this one works better?" She said that it did but that the rings around the beam were a little distracting and that's why they used the flood pattern of the cheapie light. The surgeon who happened to be present was pretty impressed with the color rendering as well. So I asked her if the light she had was hers and she said no that it belonged on the cart with all the ECMO gear. This got me thinking, these guys need a Mule high CRI and they need one now! My problem guys is that I am flat broke. All of my resources right now are tied up in making sure my son comes home safe and healthy. I wanted to hand her my Peak but I'm certain that the battery being a 10280 and the whole QTC thing is not something they would want or need. A Mule with the Nichia 119 LE and a single simple programmed level of 20-25 lumens would absolutely be perfect for them. Like I said here guys I want to put an order in now for this light just for the simple fact it would be a better tool for the people in charge of my son's life right now and help them to help him but everything I have is aimed at getting Coen healthy. I am asking you all here if any of you would be willing to help or if any of you could make this happen for me and for the ECMO team here in Iowa City I would forever be in debt to you. It's an extremely expensive light and just a small gesture in a big puzzle I know and once Coen comes home and we get back on our feet I promise I will repay any and everyone involved! And you know if this can't or doesn't happen I can surly understand and if this isn't the right way to ask I apologize. I just want to do whatever I can to help the people helping my son and all future ECMO patients here in Iowa City and I'm tapping into my one resource I feel can get this done right now and that's some of the great people here on CPF. Thank you all for taking the time to listen and consider and God Bless!
Sincerely,
Jason Ritchie
As some of you may know my wife has been pregnant with our 3rd child and as very few of you know that this child was diagnosed with CDH or Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia very early in the pregnancy. The months have been a wild ride to be sure. I'm happy to announce that on Thursday 2/2/12 at 1237 pm my son, Coen Boyd Ritchie was born. Once he was born the NICU team here in Iowa City at the Children's Hospital immediately took over to get Coen stabilized with his breathing and heart. They did a miraculous job but unfortunately Friday night Coen decided he needed some help with his recovery and gave us a terrible scare in the process. It was decided that Coen would need to be placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO. ECMO is extremely complicated for these little guys and quite frankly the scariest thing I have ever witnessed. During ECMO the machine is circulating and oxygenating the blood through my sons body allowing his heart and lungs to develop until he is strong enough to have surgery for the hernia and be able to breathe on his own. The ironic part to all of this as it pertains to me, a flashaholic and our community is that the ECMO tech's here in Iowa City keep one of those $2 multi-LED lights on their cart so that they can examine the lines carrying the blood for clotting and bubbles and other foreign objects. Now this morning I got to talking to the tech and I handed her my Peak Eiger 10280 with the Nichia 119 high CRI LED and asked if "this one works better?" She said that it did but that the rings around the beam were a little distracting and that's why they used the flood pattern of the cheapie light. The surgeon who happened to be present was pretty impressed with the color rendering as well. So I asked her if the light she had was hers and she said no that it belonged on the cart with all the ECMO gear. This got me thinking, these guys need a Mule high CRI and they need one now! My problem guys is that I am flat broke. All of my resources right now are tied up in making sure my son comes home safe and healthy. I wanted to hand her my Peak but I'm certain that the battery being a 10280 and the whole QTC thing is not something they would want or need. A Mule with the Nichia 119 LE and a single simple programmed level of 20-25 lumens would absolutely be perfect for them. Like I said here guys I want to put an order in now for this light just for the simple fact it would be a better tool for the people in charge of my son's life right now and help them to help him but everything I have is aimed at getting Coen healthy. I am asking you all here if any of you would be willing to help or if any of you could make this happen for me and for the ECMO team here in Iowa City I would forever be in debt to you. It's an extremely expensive light and just a small gesture in a big puzzle I know and once Coen comes home and we get back on our feet I promise I will repay any and everyone involved! And you know if this can't or doesn't happen I can surly understand and if this isn't the right way to ask I apologize. I just want to do whatever I can to help the people helping my son and all future ECMO patients here in Iowa City and I'm tapping into my one resource I feel can get this done right now and that's some of the great people here on CPF. Thank you all for taking the time to listen and consider and God Bless!
Sincerely,
Jason Ritchie