Hello my name is Grace, and I am creating this fundraiser on behalf of my sister Alyssa & brother inlaw Josh in hopes to help with expenses.
message from Josh:
on Sunday, December 7
Our daughter Arya came into this world 6 weeks early… and instantly began the fight of her life.
She was born with a major heart defect and several other complications. She cannot breathe on her own and is hooked up to multiple breathing tubes. She has been sedated since the moment she was born.
Before she was even transferred to the Stollery, she suffered an accidental medication overdose at the Grey Nuns, which pushed her tiny body even further into crisis. Watching a newborn go through that is something no parent should ever have to witness.
Arya now faces two heart surgeries.
The first is an emergency procedure to place a balloon and open a hole so oxygen can get into her blood. The doctors hope this will buy her enough time to grow before she needs her major open-heart surgery in about a month. We are terrified, but we’re holding on to hope.
My wife Alyssa has not even been able to meet or touch our baby yet. She tested positive for Influenza A right after the birth, and has been forced into isolation. She cries every day knowing her newborn is fighting alone, and she hasn’t been able to hold her, kiss her, or even see her face without tubes.
I have not left the hospital in 4 days, trying to be by Arya’s side while juggling every update, every scare, every beep of the machines.
We are waiting to get into Ronald McDonald House, but the waitlist is long.
And all of this is happening while we are a single-income family with two young boys (ages 3 and 5) at home. They are also sick right now, so neither of us can visit them, and we can’t risk bringing any germs to Arya. Our whole family has been split apart overnight.
We have never been the type of people to ask for handouts.
We work hard, and we’ve always made things work… but this is more than we can handle alone. Missing work, hospital costs, travel, food, bills, and being pulled in every direction — it’s overwhelming.
If you can donate, we are beyond grateful.
If you can’t donate, even sharing this means the world to us.
We just want to be able to focus on helping Arya fight.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting our family during the hardest moment of our lives.
#PrayForArya