Noah Alderson, 4, has life-threatening heart defects and has had multiple open-heart surgeries over the course of his young life.
For his most recent operation, he and his family took a donated RV cross-country from their home in Spokane, Washington to Boston Children’s Hospital.
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The family had initially planned to have the surgery done closer to home, but changed plans after they found out the nearby hospital was not able to perform the biventricular repair required.
Thankfully, Boston Children’s Hospital had a specialist who could perform the operation, though the discovery was not without complications. Noah requires a nebulizer, ventilator and feeding tubes so a simple flight was not a possible way to get from their home in Washington to Boston.
“I was at the point where I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get him there,” his mom Tanasha Alderson told GMA.
The local news, though, covered the story and the response was overwhelming. In August, Outdoorsy, an RV rental company, donated an RV for the family to use. The company also partnered with other organizations to ensure their gas, hotels, and insurance were covered throughout the 6,000 miles they covered during their trip.
“Our heartstrings were pulled by the little boy in the story and our community of users around the world started rallying around him,” Outdoorsy CEO Jeff Cavins told the Spokesman-Review.
“It’s an amazing gift,” Alderson said.
Throughout their trip, the family was able to sightsee, making stops at Niagara Falls, Statue of Liberty and the beach.
“This everything to us,” Alderson told Inside Edition. “Seeing historic places, like the Statue of Liberty, those were things I have put on Noah’s adventure list — things that I wasn’t sure if we would ever be able to get to do with him.”
Noah underwent surgery in September and remains at Boston Children’s Hospital after he experienced some complications after the operation.
Noah’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money which will be used towards his medical care.