SEQUIM — Family members of Gerald Ladd have announced that the 5-month-old has died.
“Our Gerald fought hard but he went home to be with Jesus today. We know we’ll see him in heaven one day,” his mother, Kerry Ladd, wrote on the family’s gofundme page.
“Thank you all for supporting us in this very difficult time.”
Gerald died Sunday at Seattle Children’s Hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He is survived by his parents and a 3-year-old sister.
Family members said Gerald will be an organ donor.
Friends of the Ladds said a celebration of life for Gerald will be announced in the near future.
Gerald had been in Seattle Children’s Hospital for about a month because of various ailments and complications, including a disorder that sees fats build up in his body that can’t be removed.
His parents, Tim, a stay-at-home-dad, and Kerry Ladd, a paraeducator at Helen Haller Elementary, were pursuing an experimental treatment from St. Louis, Mo., with doctors. Originally the family would have needed to travel there for the treatment, but doctors worked to bring treatment services to Seattle.
The online gofundme campaign site remains at www.gofundme.com/prayers-for-baby-gerald, now to help offset the family’s medical costs, including hotel stays near the hospital. The campaign had raised $11,079 in 21 days as of Wednesday.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
Editor’s Note: Family members asked Gerald’s disorder not be named.
