Benefiting Baby Blakely
Matt and Lauryn Brown have been blessed with Baby Blakely Mae. Blakely was born at 26 weeks and is very little. Blakely is currently in the NICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Blakely is beautiful and is so strong. She has her mommy’s spirit and her daddy’s strength. Unfortunately Blakely was diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder and the medical bills are piling up right now. With Blakely being so small she has a long road of recovery. Mom and dad have been up there with her and are not working right now. A lot of people have reached out to them, myself, and other family and friends to see how they can help this beautiful family. We are asking for prayers, prayers and more prayers. If you are able/wanting to donate to help support this family right now we have set up this go fund me page. If you wish to donate through a different source I will put their Venmo and PayPal at the end. Nothing is expected but every penny is appreciated.
This is a message from Mom & Dad
Matt and I have taken days to figure out the perfect words. But there is no easy or “perfect” way to let our family and friends know this news.
With all that is going on in the world, I know now is the right time to make this announcement. People are judged by their race, religion, appearance, or for being “different.” And our sweet girl is going to be one of a kind and we hope everyone loves her as much as we do.
We have had several of you asking how she is doing. As all of you know, Blakely was born prematurely so we will have a lengthy NICU stay ahead of us. Since we have been in the NICU, her medical team has been working hard to provide her the best care possible. With that being said, they have also been running tests and labs and everything you could imagine on her. Unfortunately, Blakely was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. We are working with a geneticist and we are continuously learning new information all while trying to process having a premie baby to begin with. They’re working on continuing to learn about Blakely and her diagnosis, as it is extremely rare. We know she is 1 in 400,000 cases worldwide and that she is the first premie to be born with it (ever). We will share more specific information when we are ready and able to process everything more. The doctors can give a diagnosis, but we will not allow them to give her a life sentence. They have told us we may not have much time with her, and we’re not going to believe it for one second. She’s been a fighter since day one and we believe miracles can happen. What we would ask from anyone at this time is continued prayers for our little family as well as Blakely’s medical team and to please respect that we will offer more information when we are ready to do so. We also ask that you pray form Matt and I. We found out when the time comes for more children, Matt and I will have to go through IVF to prevent this from happening again. All we wanted after we were married was to start a family, and we will go through every obstacle thrown our way to continue to grow our family.
As far as Blakely, for now, “she’s doing okay” is what we are able to honestly offer everyone at this time. She’s growing - slowly but surely - and we are learning how to navigate parenthood with the extra emotions and complications that are specific to our current situation, on top of those extra emotions and complications that most other NICU parents experience. She’s captured our hearts and is a fierce little girl. Thank you all for everything up to this point. Your prayers, encouragement and support mean the world to us.
Venmo- Lauryn-Brown13
Paypal- [email redacted]