On Wednesday, July 17th, Mike and Deena Zellers (grandson of Dick & Kay Zellers) lost their newborn son, Zaelyn Joseph. Below are a few details of what they’ve gone through. Please keep Mike & Deena as well as the rest of the family in your prayers.
On 06/26/19, Zaelyn Joseph Zellers entered the world at 1 pound 6 ounces, 4 months early. His heart was strong and he was placed in the small baby unit of the NICU on an oxygen tube that went in his mouth and multiple other hookups and monitors. He continued to have multiple tests and most things came back normal and he was making good progress with increasing feeding doses and eventually opening his eyes a few times. On July 2nd, Michael got to hold him for the first time inside the incubator and then on July 4th, both Michael and Deena got to hold him on their chest skin to skin for the first time. He continued to be a fighter and reach small milestones for the next couple of weeks. He was scheduled to likely get his breathing tube out and get noninvasive oxygen for the morning of July 16th but that morning, we got word that Zaelyn slightly pulled out his breathing tube the night before causing him to throw up a little and become very stressed and tired. The nurses were able to replace the tube and Tuesday was a day of resting for him instead of placing him on noninvasive oxygen. On Wednesday July 17th, it was feared that Zaelyn had an infection. They were unable to get any blood from him to tell, but they gave him antibiotics to try to help. They did a surgery that revealed there was air in his stomach and the bowel was leaking into his stomach. They used tubes in his skin to help leak out the bad and gave him a couple IVs to feed through and continue to give antibiotics. Unfortunately, on the night of July 17th Zaelyn was in what they called beyond critical condition and did not have any more energy to continue fighting. Zaelyn passed away Wednesday, July 17th.
If you would like to send cards of encouragement or condolences you may send them to
Jeff and Sheila Zellers
512 W 4th St Homer, IL 61849
