Expenses for Birth & Loss of Baby Nyla Reynolds

We are writing this as part of the Montana Rebels Basketball Family. If you have a child in Bozeman, MT, who has been involved in any competitive basketball in the last ten years, you have likely had the opportunity to have Justin Reynolds train your athlete. You may have also been fortunate enough to have him coach your team, but if not, you or your child have likely heard of his generosity. He has been known to take entire teams to movies, to dinner, get professional team pictures, buy basketball shoes for someone who needs them, or take a whole team to an NBA game at his own expense, but always for the benefit of the kids. Right now, it’s our turn to help him. Justin and his fiancé, Brittani Currier, have been going through a very long and challenging journey to expand their family.

They have spent the last four years navigating the emotional and expensive journey of infertility. Through multiple medical interventions, the couple was able to conceive, and in April 2022, they were ecstatic to find out they would finally become parents! The due date was January 2023, so they began planning as new parents do. The pregnancy was challenging and required many additional doctor visits and medications. It was progressing as it should until September 28, 2022, when it was determined Brittani had developed preeclampsia. This is a medical condition that causes dangerous levels of high blood pressure. It required immediate hospitalization and additional precautions to protect mom and baby. Unfortunately, the condition worsened, and Brittani had to be life flighted from Bozeman to Billings, MT, where they have more advanced equipment to treat this diagnosis and very premature infants. An emergency C-section was performed in the early morning of October 1, 2022, and the beautiful Nyla Ann Michelle Reynolds was born. She was just 26 weeks and 2 pounds but came out fighting. She was considered healthy for her gestational age but still developing in many ways. This required Brittani to stay with Nyla in the NICU in Billings and Justin to complete a daily commute from Bozeman to Billings while juggling coaching and working. Unfortunately, after a few days, the doctors discovered Nyla had a PDA, also known as patent ductus arteriosus (PAY-tent DUK-tus are-teer-ee-OH-sus), which is a common heart murmur in a premature infant.

The Billings doctors attempted to treat Nyla’s heart murmur with the medications and equipment available to them. Still, they ultimately decided it would be better to transport the family to Denver Children’s Hospital to repair the heart defect. On October 19th, Brittani and Nyla were flown to the new hospital, and Justin joined shortly after. During the transfer, Nyla caught a severe staph infection. Although many life-saving procedures were attempted over the next few days, they could not save her from the invasive infection in her tiny body. She fought as long as she could, but on October 22, 2022, she departed this world and gained her angel wings.

Their heartbreak has been followed by a flood of bills from 20+ days in three hospitals; two specialized NICU stays for Nyla, life flights, and many other things not covered by insurance. Not only are we asking for prayers, but we’re also asking for donations to help this couple navigate the next steps of their journey. Any monetary donations will go towards astronomical medical expenses, transportation costs, end-of-life expenses, etc. Thank you for your consideration and generosity.