Fundraiser opened for baby Warren Olivares as family faces mounting expenses

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Two-month-old Warren Matthew Olivares has had a challenge since being born at 35 weeks on July 6, and friends have started a Go Fund Me fundraising account to help with the South Lake Tahoe family's medical expenses.

Warren's mom Tess had been on bed rest since going into labor at 23 weeks. When he was born, his first day of life was filled with lots of love and snuggles. Shortly after birth, Warren started to experience glucose problems, so he was started on an IV and was stabilized.

Unfortunately, 24 hours after birth, Warren stopped breathing in his dad Matt’s hands while doing routine blood work. He was rushed to the newborn nursery and resuscitated twice. It was at this point the decision was made to transfer Warren to Renown Regional Medical Center. For the next 26 days, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Renown was his home.

Warren underwent all kinds of tests: head ultrasounds, MRIs, EEGs, x-rays, and echos. During this extensive testing, it was found that he had two brain bleeds. One was a little worse than the other. As a result of these bleeds, he was also experiencing seizures. Medications were given, and he was watched like a hawk by the caring nurses and doctors of the NICU.

With the medical team's help and the constant support of his parents, Warren started making progress. Eventually passing all of his NICU milestones, he finally came home on August 2, 2022.

During this time in the NICU, Matt was unable to work as he was spending all of his time at Warren’s side. Tess has been unable to work since she was put on bed rest in April. Although they have insurance that helped cover the costs of this lengthy NICU stay, they are receiving bills in the tens of thousands. Warren will require specialty appointments with neurology and cardiology for the foreseeable future. These doctors are located at UC Davis and he is now being referred to a neurosurgeon out of Stanford.

Warren has improved but is still on oxygen and specialists are still considering the possibility of surgery. Dad Matt is a wildland firefighter and has been able to start working and is currently deployed in Idaho. Both Tess and Matt were employed at the Chart House before Warren's birth.

The GoFundMe fundraiser is helping to offset some of the young local family's medical expenses. To find out how to help, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-baby-warren-the-olivares-family?utm_source=facebook&fbclid=Iw....