A local ten-year-old boy has already lived longer than expected, but his family is holding onto one final hope that their son can have a normal life and a future.
One look at his bedroom wall and it’s clear, ten-year-old Thomas Maier loves superheroes.
He has more in common with them than you might think - his semi-bionic lungs for example.
And just like a superhero, Thomas has been fighting and winning impossible battles since the day he was born.
“He was born with a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot, which means there’s 4 distinct different things wrong with his heart,” says his mother.
He entered the world at 5 pounds 5 ounces, screaming and blue - deprived of oxygen because of a heart defect doctors were unable to fix
By the time he was a year old – his medical bills exceeded $400,000.
Since then bills keep piling up and Thomas keeps fighting for air and parents Jeff and Karin say they are grateful. They’ve sacrificed everything to find their sons a cure.
But it may not be enough.
Doctors say Thomas needs both a heart transplant and lung transplant, but right now he’s not eligible to receive a donor organ.
“His antibodies are so high that if he were to get a transplant now his body would reject it outright even with medications.”
A new treatment to lower those antibodies has renewed hope in the Maier family that Thomas could be placed on the transplant list soon.
In the meantime, they encourage Thomas to dream of the future, of who he’ll be when he grows up.
They try to live in the moment and plan adventures, like going to the Field Museum in Chicago.
With all those road trips, Thomas thinks a super power would come in handy.
But his favorite superhero is someone you might not expect.
More than anything Thomas just wants to be just like Batman’s Robin – a normal healthy 10-year-old kid.
It’s what his parents are praying for.
You can get updates from the family on their YouCaring page.
