“Several times during the first week of Nesanel’s life we noticed that our baby was breathing rapidly or seemed out of breath. We were assured by our pediatrician that ‘babies sometimes breathe in this manner’ and that we need not worry,” Meira Burkom, Nesanel’s mom, wrote to us. “At 12 days old, while in his father’s arms, Nesanel stopped breathing.”

Meira called the paramedics immediately. “As soon as they arrived, the paramedics began CPR,” Meira recalled.

As the first responders attempted to revive their son, Nesanel’s parents looked on helplessly as even more emergency personnel arrived at their home to assist. After a few extremely tense minutes, Nesanel’s pulse returned. There wasn’t much time to celebrate as this was quickly followed by the insertion of a breathing tube before Nesanel was rushed out the door and into a waiting ambulance.

At the hospital, it was discovered that Nesanel had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, which meant the muscle that separates his abdomen from his chest did not develop completely and caused a hole.

“After birth the hole expanded allowing his lower intestines to migrate into the chest cavity, causing a full cardiac arrest,” Meira wrote to us.

Although a successful surgery was performed to repair the hole, Nesanel had long-term effects to deal with due to this traumatic event.

“Due to the lack of oxygen during the cardiac arrest, Nesanel suffered a brain injury which lead to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. Thankfully, and miraculously, Nesanel’s cognition is intact and we’re constantly working with him and skilled professionals to find new pathways to help him function as independent as possible,” Meira told us. “He walks in a gait trainer and uses an eye gaze device to demonstrate what he’s learned and share his many thoughts, feelings and opinions.”

Now 6 years old, Nesanel is the youngest of Meira and Eliot’s four children. The three older siblings have all lovingly encouraged Nesanel along in his recovery these past 6 years in the hopes he may join them on his own one day.

“[His older siblings] are very athletic and enjoy biking,” Meira told us in her application. “Nesanel has grown out of a small adaptive bike that he received four years ago. He would be more involved in activities with his siblings if he were to have an adaptive bike that he could feel confident in. He would be so happy being included with the rest of the family.”

Holton’s Heroes was able to purchase Nesanel a brand new adaptive bicycle from Rifton so he can join his siblings outside when they go for a family bike ride. Within a few short weeks from first connecting with Nesanel’s family, the bike arrived at their home.

“The bike just arrived today! It came at the perfect time with the weather getting warmer here,” Meira excitedly wrote to us. “Also, he’s been needing to work on the exercise of bicycling so badly. He is so excited to get it put together.”

“Nesanel has been riding it all over the neighborhood and feels so proud,” Meira reported back to us days later. 💚🐘