Crawfish for a Cause

What’s better in Louisiana than fresh boiled crawfish in the spring?  The only thing better is using mudbugs to save the lives of our tiniest community members.

Members of Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL) and Drago’s Seafood Restaurant achieved just that this past April!  Tom Barclay of Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity, Tommy Cvicanovich of Drago’s Foundation and staff at Drago’s Seafood Restaurant in Lafayette recently presented their local Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals, CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Hospital and CHRISTUS St. Patrick’s Hospital with a generous donation.  These two generous donors teamed up to raise the CMN funds through a crawfish boil hosted at Drago’s Seafood Restaurant.

Tricia Sawyer who is part of a local CMN patient family comments, “If it wasn’t for the donations of those who have come before us, we would not have been blessed with the equipment and tools necessary in assisting our children in their most fragile moments.”  Tricia’s son, Nehemiah, was blessed with care in both CHRISTUS Cabrini’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Pediatric Therapy Center.  Born at 34 weeks, Nehemiah’s brain would forget to suck, swallow and breath which impeded his flow of oxygen and normal growth.

CMN funds from donors like Drago’s Seafood Restaurant and Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity in Lafayette are used for a variety of services within the children’s departments, including the purchase of state of the art equipment used during treatment and therapy within the CHRISTUS hospitals.

E-Stim Therapy is one example of those donations at work at CHRISTUS Cabrini’s Pediatric Therapy Center.  This small neuro-muscular electrical stimulator is used during E-Stim Therapy to contract a patient’s muscles and stimulate the nerves so that they can move and function better.  It facilitates motor memory and in Nehemiah’s case, swallowing and breathing better. Without E-Stim Therapy, Nehemiah would not have the ability to process soft foods and to drink without aspirating.

Thanks to devices and therapies funded by CMN donors like Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity at ULL and Drago’s Seafood Restaurant in Lafayette, Nehemiah is starting to reach his milestones at the age of two and has gained 13 lbs. since starting therapy.