Tabatha Steed

Tabatha Steed is the mother of three children: Aedyn (10), Molly (8) and Kai (2). Kai was born with transposition of the great arteries and an atrial septal defect (ASD). He had an arterial switch operation and patching of his ASD at 4 days of age. He also had a diaphragm plication at 7 days of age. Kai has a unique story. In addition to his heart defects, he was not given proper nutrition during his hospital stay at birth for his surgery and he developed rickets. Lasix further compromised his bones because the medication caused calcium to be leached from them. Kai and Tabitha have recently been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which increases the risk for developing vitamin D deficiencies. Kai had two unexplained fractures shortly after his release from the hospital, which couldn’t be accounted for by Tabatha or her husband because he suffered no trauma. Child Protective Services was called and the family lost custody of Kai for a year while they sought out-of-state experts and multiple tests to try to determine a cause of the fractures. It took two years, over $20,000 in out-of-state medical bills, and two out-of-state doctors to finally explain Kai’s condition.