BEVERLY HILLS, Mich. – A Michigan family is facing the challenge of a lifetime, and now an entire school community is rallying around them to help.
Parishioners at Shrine of the Little Flower are praying and making cards for a boy they've never met, but who's managed to touch their hearts.
Trevor Sullivan, 14, is an eighth-grader at Berkshire Middle School who suddenly finds himself the center of attention. Last month, Trevor came down with what seemed like a common cold.
"Besides my stomach hurting, I was fine," Trevor said.
"Everything kept pointing to the upper respiratory infection having brought on asthma symptoms," said Trevor's mother, Kimberly Sullivan.
But after several trips to the family's pediatrician, Trevor's symptoms didn't go away.
"We had no clue, to be honest with you," said Trevor's father, Philip Sullivan. "We just thought it was a normal everyday cold congestion, something was going on, some sinus, chest congestion, things like that, so we just treated it as you normally would with normal over-the-counter medication."
Trevor's parents then started to notice something even more alarming.
"The red flag, I think, for my wife and I was the fact that he gained 12 pounds all of a sudden. (We were concerned) that he had not been eating anything. He was eating like a little bird, actually," Philip Sullivan said.
Trusting their guts, Philip and Kimberly Sullivan took Trevor to Beaumont Hospital.
"Sure enough, we thought maybe appendicitis, (that his) appendix was going to come out and 48 hours (later he'd) be back to school type of thing," Kimberly Sullivan said.
But that didn't turn out to be the case. Trevor's situation was much worse than the Sullivans could have ever imagined.
"They looked stunned and what they were seeing, they said, was something that they didn't see every day," Kimberly Sullivan said.
Trevor was in complete heart failure.
"The worst part, I think, for me is when my heart rate dropped to, like, I think, 30 and it was awful. Because you're just going in and out and it's hard to breathe. It was really bad," said Trevor. "And then the doctor came back and said that they were preparing the helicopter. And you know, I was really scared when they said helicopter. I was telling myself stay calm, it couldn't be that bad, maybe they're just having a slow night. Within an hour or so we were airlifted."
As paramedics airlifted Trevor to Mott Children's Hospital, Philip and Kimberly started the long drive to Ann Arbor, a car ride that neither one of them will ever forget.
"It was the longest hour ever. It really was the longest hour," said Trevor.
The longest hour was followed by a battery of seemingly never-ending tests. Then came the news that the Sullivans never thought they'd hear.
"Monday afternoon is when they told us that they were going to have to do a heart transplant," said Philip Sullivan.
"That was a very numb moment sort of where it felt like my stomach just dropped out," Kimberly Sullivan said.
Without a new heart, doctors gave Trevor a few months to a year to live.
"We never thought that we would be at this stage," Philip Sullivan said.
"You know, I have been dreading those words for a few days," said Kimberly Sullivan. "I think somewhere in my gut I knew that he was in that bad of shape."
It took everyone by surprise.
"He's had a checkup once a year, every year," said Philip Sullivan.
"None of this was ever found. Not that it's our doctors' fault or anything like that," said Kimberly Sullivan. "It's just amazing that this happened actually, and nobody knows why."
Trevor spent the next three weeks in the hospital, where visitors started dropping in, one by one. His football coaches, teachers and even his principal came to visit.
"I'm a parent myself," said Trevor's principal. "I can't even imagine what Trevor's family is going through, as far as his parents having to contemplate the mortality of your child -- (that) has to be devastating. I think that definitely ramps up that urgency of support and wanting to reach out and wanting to wrap our entire community's arms around this family."
When word spread, students across the district began a card-writing campaign. Get-well cards, along with Trevor's retired football jersey No. 56, now line his bedroom walls.
"Trevor is an amazing young man," said Trevor's coach. "He's impacted so many people here at Berkshire and the community. So when we heard that this was going on with him, it was an immediate reaction -- what can we do to try to help him out and his family?"
Trevor's friends and teachers began selling wristbands and hats to rally for Team Trevor.
"I think (it was) knowing the family, being friends with them, and knowing what they were going through, having children the same age," said Trevor's teacher. "Just trying to imagine how hard it must be for them. I think the mothers, all of us who have children. It just really hit home that it could happen to any of us."
While he can't go back to class just yet, days after leaving the hospital, Trevor had a chance to visit Berkshire, where he was greeted with a hero's welcome.
"You're back today at your school today. What was it like? What's it like to walk into the auditorium?" asked Local 4's Sandra Ali.
"Just like, everyone is clapping and some people were just staring at me and were just like, 'Oh my God. He's still alive. Wow,'" said Trevor.
The Sullivans continue to rely on their school community for strength.
"We're just taking it day by day right now, to be honest," said Philip Sullivan. "It's one of those things that needs to be done. We're going to jump in, we're going to do it as a family as best as we possibly can."
It's a community of people who have opened their hearts for a boy who desperately needs a new one.
"If people alone by supporting him could fix him, the amount of support he has, he would be fixed already," Kimberly Sullivan said.
Trevor is at the very top of the list for a heart transplant because of his condition. The family is waiting for the call to come, which could happen at any time.
Anyone interested in learning more about Trevor's story or helping Team Trevor can visit the Team Trevor Facebook page or the Team Trevor GoFundMe page.