The Hooge Emergency Fund

I have known Blaire and Heather Hooge for the last 4 years. Though 4 years isn't that long, they have become family to me. They are the kindest, most loving, and caring people you will ever meet. They are always eager and willing to help others--it is now our turn to help them...

On the evening of June 29,  2017, Heather Hooge, Blaire's wife, was putting their 4 year old son to bed at their home in Calgary. Blaire was supposed to have just begun a fun and long awaited bike trip to British Columbia with friends. After their son was sleeping, Heather soon learned that Blaire had been in a serious motorcycle accident that had lead him to be airlifted to the Kelowna General Hospital Intensive Care Unit. Blaire's condition was not known, only that it was serious.

Heather left the next morning to drive out to Kelowna (being the Canada Day long weekend no flights were available). Once she arrived she learned that Blaire had suffered serious head trauma (skull fractures and multiple brain bleeds), a broken cheek bone, and a broken ankle. Since her arrival Blaire has been moved out of intensive care however, the extent of the damage is still unknown. It appears the head trauma has affected vision in one of his eyes. He is getting surgery on his ankle and will be required to be off that ankle for 3 months. These are the things they definitively know about his condition right now but there are still a lot of unknowns. Needless to say, Blaire's journey to recovery is going to be long.

In the last 1.5 years Blaire and Heather Hooge have been through a lot.

In early 2016, Blaire and Heather found out they were pregnant. They were both elated, as adding another child to their family was something they had been wanting. Things quickly changed when they went in for the routine 20 week ultrasound. On May 2, 2016 they found out they were pregnant with a baby girl. Sadly on that day, they also got the worst news any parents could ever receive; their daughter had triploidy, an extremely rare chromosomal disorder, in which a baby has three copies of every chromosome instead of the normal two.

At 4:55am on May 12, 2016, their daughter Willa Twyla Hooge was born silently into this world.

Shortly after the loss of their daughter, Willa, Blaire was laid off from his job. Though Heather was still grieving their loss, she went back to work sooner than she was emotionally ready, in an effort to provide financial stability for the family.

Blaire recently went back to work and just a month prior to his accident, Heather had taken a new Social Work job.

At this time The Hooges are facing a number of financial unknowns. Heather and Blaire are still in Kelowna and do not know when Blaire will be returning to Calgary. With Heather only being at her new job for one month, the time off she will be eligible for is not known. She will need to be home to support Blaire through his recovery. We also do not know what type of financial support will be in place from Blaire`s workplace.

In time, Blaire and Heather will have answers to some of these questions but in the meantime I would like to help provide a safety net for them.

The last thing this family needs is to worry about finances at this time. They have experienced 2 very traumatic events in less than 2 years and deserve the chance to mentally and physically heal without additional worry.

Let's rally together to show Blaire and Heather that though bad things happen, there are always good people there to help.

Please help support this wonderful family.

Thanks,
Aditi Loveridge