A very good writeup on Matt and his family. Matt does a radio show, for people out of town, download the app and catch his show. 104.5 WNXX-FM. Matt is a big Tiger Fan, he along with his family. Baton Rouge radio host Matt Moscona’s infant son Drew’s condition improving after he was born with rare condition HOUSTON — Drew Moscona turned six weeks old Friday, every day of his fragile young life spent here at Texas Children’s Hospital. Drew has had three surgeries so far, and is still three to five months away from yet another major surgery to repair a heart defect. He’s endured being hooked to monitors and machines spent dispensing as many as 10 different drugs at a time, and another machine to oxygenate his blood for him while his one good lung develops enough to handle the job. Drew is dropping down what his neonatologist calls his “best-seller list.” That is a good thing. “You never want to be on top of that list,” said Drew’s father, Matt Moscona, whose sports talk show “After Further Review” is on weekday afternoons on WNXX-FM 104.5 in Baton Rouge. “When you’re on top of the best-seller list, you’ve got doctors around all the time. “We were the No. 1 best-seller for a long time. They come to check on Drew’s heart about once a week now instead of round the clock care. “No doctors is a good thing.” The Mosconas — Drew, Matt and wife Erika, a counselor at St. Jude the Apostle School — have been in Houston since May 31. They don’t know exactly when they’re going home, but every day they are more convinced they will. “We would always tell each other, ‘Drew is coming home,’ ” Moscona said. “We finished his room. It was kind of half done when we got the initial diagnosis (March 5), and then (Erika) wouldn’t go in the room for months. I said, ‘We’re not leaving here until we finish the room, because he’s coming back with us.’ ” Drew was diagnosed in utero with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a condition that allowed his abdominal organs to migrate into his chest cavity. That compressed Drew’s right lung, shoved his heart to the right side of his chest and allowed only a small amount of left lung tissue to grow. But his condition is improving daily. Surgery has moved Drew’s organs back to their proper places, and his right lung opened up strongly. The Mosconas bide their time by piling up small victories, like when Drew’s medical team can remove another machine or wire, another indication he is better able to sustain himself. Sunday, they took out an IV line, improving the procedure by which Drew is fed. Thursday, Matt Moscona said doctors plan to remove Drew from his ventilator and put him on a CPAP machine, a major milestone in pulmonary development. There is a lot of ground left to cover, but Moscona knows how far his son has already come. “One thing I’ve learned is doctors aren’t too keen on making predictions because every patient is different,” he said. “You hear percentages. They wouldn’t even give us a probability because his case was so rare. It was that bleak. A lot of the doctors and nurses I’ve gotten to know have candidly told me now he’s cleared this critical phase he’s surprising everybody. He could have died any one of those days after he was born.” Matt and Erika spend mornings with Drew, visiting with his team of doctors and nurses, before Matt heads back to their apartment here to prepare for his show, on 3-6 p.m. each weekday. Moscona then heads to Clear Channel radio’s Houston headquarters, where a direct line to the control room in Baton Rouge makes it sound like he’s doing the show from a studio there. Then it’s back to the hospital to stay with Drew until 10-11 p.m. at night. “I didn’t have typical days for awhile,” Moscona said, “but trying to find a routine has kept me sane. If every day I was floating like a feather on a breeze, I would go nuts.” Clear Channel’s assistance comes despite the fact that it is a direct competitor in the Baton Rouge market with Guaranty Broadcasting (which owns WNXX). It is one of the many things for which Moscona is grateful, one of the many members of what he refers to as Team Drew. He’s added the company to the list along with the family, friends and listeners who packed The Varsity on Aug. 14 for a charity concert for Drew featuring the up and coming local country rock band The Gillis Silo. Or the people from all over the world who joined Fr. David Allen (the pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Port Allen, who married the Mosconas) in a prayer group on a recent Alaskan cruise, putting Drew at the top of their own best-seller list. “He still gets calls from these dozens of people from different corners of the world who say they’re still praying for Drew,” Moscona said. “These people don’t know me. They barely know Fr. David. But they continue to pray for him. What do you say? ‘That’s really neat?’ ‘Oh, that’s cool?’ ‘Thank you very much?’ There are no words to adequately thank people other than to say thank you from the deepest part of me for helping my child.” Erika Moscona rarely allows herself to leave Drew’s side, but Drew was doing well enough Saturday for Matt to attend LSU’s 28-24 win over Wisconsin at Houston’s NRG Stadium. There are times when he envisions taking Drew to a game one day. “During my show (Thursday), Erika sent me a picture. Drew has a little lovey-type football, and his nurse positioned him so he like had it under his arm,” Moscona said. “I got real excited. I hope he wants to watch football. I’d love to think he would want to watch a game.”
That brought tears to my eyes--especially the part at the end about just wanting to one day watch a football game with his son. It's the small things in life that often bring us the most joy.
I haven't been listening to his show much lately but the other day I caught the tail end of him saying something about raising money and asking people to pray for Drew. I didn't know it was his son. I thought he was doing it for a listener or somebody who worked at the station. God Bless and I hope he gets to take Drew to that football game
Wow, that tugs st my heart strings. I'll definitely find a way to help these folks & their son. My parents went through a very trying time when I was born because my twin sister & me were born 3 months pre-mature. My sister was able to go home on about a week but I had to stay in the hospital for 3 months until my lungs & heart developed. I only weighed 2.5 lbs and actually went under 2 later. (This was in 1955) But I never had to go through what this family & baby have had to endure with all of the medications in addition to the surgeries. What a fighter this baby must be! Think I just found my new cause to focus on.
Been knowing Matt and his family for years, we attended the same church when in BTR. Great family. Nothing but the best for all, they are always in our prayers.
Pretty cool to think how getting you through that tough stretch in the beginning led to all the years you've had, hopefully productive/successful ones. Not to take away from the point of the story about this family/baby's trials and tribulations, but there is a cost side to the issue, so if anyone is serious about supporting them, they'll likely need it. I had a family recently whose baby was born w/a heart defect that required surgical correction, and a 3 week NICU stay. The cost of the hospitalization alone was 1 mil, and they hadn't received the surgeon's bill yet for the open heart procedure itself. If this baby's diaphragmatic hernia was this significant that they are in the hospital for approaching 3mos., with all of the specialists surveillance, the cost will be in the millions, w/a "z". Hopefully, their insurance covers nearly all of it, but there will still be some out of pocket costs, I'm sure.
Matt is a really cool guy, and will always take the time to talk to you if he actually has the time. Prayers to him and his wife, and for their baby boy.
