Helping a medically complex family

A friend set up this fundraiser for us several years ago. Some of our needs have changed but our family situation has not. We could still use help with money for heating, to try to finish the electric upgrade to use the upstairs bedrooms in our home and move the washer/dryer. The car is fully paid off but is in need of repairs and inspection before month's end. We continue to see 8-14 specialists for ongoing medical concerns for each of my children, multiple visits a year. We may need to purchase a portable oxygen concentrator this coming year as our insurance has been lessening the supplies and equipment it covers.  

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My friend Gretchen has given the most beautiful gifts to her three adopted children. The gift of love, of family, of advocacy, of normalcy. She and her three beauties spend their days singing, dancing, playing, reading, cooking, and other things that connected families do.

But in many ways their lives are also different than many of ours.  Her three children (7-year-old twins and their 5-year-old sister) were born premature and entered this world when they were smaller than a box of kleenex. Because of this and other factors, they have multiple complex medical needs that require 24-hour a day monitoring and care. Two of the children have tracheostomies. A typical day includes oximeters, mist compressors, nebulizers, cooking a special diet from scratch, and more. 

I've created this page so that we have the opportunity to help Gretchen raise her beautiful children. If you are like me and live far away from the family, you can't help Gretchen with her day to day needs. But we can donate money that will help them live the healthiest possible life, and to alleviate some of the stress associated with having enough money to make ends meet. As the mom of a medically fragile child, I know that the stress of meeting medical needs is often more than one can handle. Every $1 that people gave me was a blessing. I know Gretchen will feel the same. 

So please think about making a donation and helping us support Gretchen in meeting these very real needs:

$2.25- a large coffee on the way to a doctor appointment

$10- one day of almond milk & peanut butter formula

$15- parking at the hospital for a day of appointments

$25- the cost of gas for a trip to the pediatrician's office or cream & starter for a batch of homemade lactose-free yogurt

$50.00- gas, tolls & parking for one trip to a clinic appointment.

$100.00- 2 months worth of Almond Flour for the kids' special diet

$250.00- milk and homemade formula supplies for the 3 young ones for a month

$500.00- a winter month's heat & hot water

$1000.00- travel to GI, Pulmonary, and Orthopedic appointments for the year

$1,500.00- replace the fridge that keeps safe many hundreds of dollars worth of medicine at any given time.

$3000.00- pay off the car & free up money for travel to appointments and food

$4,000.00- move the washer/dryer out of the basement to make it accessible when no nurse is there. Even a few minutes away to do laundry in the basement is too long.

$5000.00- allow an upgrade to their home's electrical system to better support the medical equipment & AC needs

Thank you!

xo
nora