Despite the ordeal the Knickerbocker family have been through, baby Noah, their beloved 6-month old son born with aortic valve stenosis, has finally had his heart transplant.
Noah Knickerbocker was born in August last year with a congenital heart defect which his mother found out about 20 weeks into the pregnancy.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, two weeks after Noah was born, he already required surgery and was lined up for a heart transplant to survive.
This prompted his family, who are originally from Huntley, Illinois, to leave their home and relocate temporarily to the Ronald McDonald House in Milwaukee to be close to the Wisconsin Children's Hospital where Noah has been receiving care.
Noah was the subject of a GoFundMe campaign which sought to raise funds for his medical needs but according to his parents, ended in heartache and betrayal for the family.
Tyler said that his family is now ready to press charges against Noah's godfather, who they say created the GoFundMe campaign page for the baby and took the funds raised for himself.
According to Tyler, they originally thought that the friend's gesture of setting up the account for the Noah was thoughtful and selfless but when the account suddenly disappeared, along with the $6,500 raised, they were shocked.
The family said that the money would have eased the financial burden of their current living situation.
Tyler said that when he asked the godfather where the money went, he told him that he wrote checks to organisations that would help Noah.
On Facebook, their friend posted checks written out to the Ronald McDonald House, the Wisconsin Children's Hospital and the Boston Children's Hospital amounting to $6,000 but the organisations have denied receiving the amounts indicated in the checks, ABC reports.
According to the Ronald McDonald House Charities global office, it only received a donation of $125 in Dec. 29 and the Wisconsin Children's Hospital received a much smaller amount than what Wills posted. The Boston Hospital on the other hand, received no donation at all.
In a statement to WISN.com, Tyler had this to say: "Not only did he lie to us and tell us that he was going to do this stuff, he lied to 212 people who thought they were donating their money to a family in need."
The family is set to file charges of charity fraud against Tyler's godfather in an effort to recover the funds.
While the relationship with their friend has soured, the family are relieved that at least their baby has received the treatment he needed.
According to a report by abcnews.go.com, the surgery took seven hours to complete and there were some complications, but baby Noah has pulled through and is now recovering.
Tyler said: "It's honestly very, very scary. It's a terrifying thing that we've been going through this since last May. It's been a long, rough road."
