The community is rallying around an 11-year-old boy from Caronport who is dealing with heart complications.

Shawn Peebles has a heart condition that requires him to travel to Moose Jaw twice a day.

Jason Kochie, Shawn's soon-to-be step-dad, has set up a GoFundMe page to help offset some of the costs.

"Why we are fundraising is to fund the things that other agencies can't help us with, like gas money, a driver. His mom doesn't drive, and I don't drive. He will be on this twice a day going to Moose Jaw until the end of March but potentially longer. There's a possibility that it could go into April," he said.

Shawn was born with a heart defect that required surgery. His mom Jennifer knew that at some point in the future he would require surgery again to change out a part of the heart that they had fixed when he was a baby.

Kochie explained that throughout December and January, Shawn had started to develop some health problems where his lips were turning blue, he was running out of oxygen, and having chest pains.

On February 14th Shawn was booked in for a CT scan in a Saskatoon hospital. Once the scan was done, Shawn was sent back home to Caronport. Upon returning home, the family received a call from the hospital stating that Shawn needed to return to the hospital immediately because he had blood clots in his heart and they wanted to start him on blood thinners and other meds. The next morning he was flown to Edmonton where he underwent emergency open-heart surgery to remove the blood clots from his heart and widen the valves. To avoid the possibility of infection from staying in the hospital, Shawn was sent home to Caronport.

"Shawn is required every six hours to be given a medication intravenously through a PICC line that goes straight to his heart," explained Kochie.

Shawn Peebles and his mom Jennifer DemetrioffShawn and his mom Jennifer

Despite the challenges facing Shawn and his family, the young man is said to be in good spirits.

"Shawn is back to his charming self," chuckled Kochie. "He is the love of anyone who meets him. He is quite the boisterous young man and very hyper and very inquisitive and talks a mile a minute. Trying to get a word in edgewise with Shawn is a big obstacle to overcome. Genuinely he is in good spirits."

Kochie says that any donation is greatly appreciated.

"Normally, I'm never the man to ask for help, I'm always the one helping others wherever I can, however I can. This has been a very humbling moment to ask the community for a little bit of support."

Shawn's GoFundMe page can be accessed here

Shawn Peebles