Olivia Jewell

This is a fundraiser for my niece, Olivia Jewell. She is four years old, and will be having open heart surgery on Dec. 11th, 2014. She was born with a hole in her heart that was monitored regularly by her doctors. After noticing that her heart continued to beat irregularly at her 3 year checkup appointment, her pediatrician referred her to a pediatric heart specialist for further observation. At this time her doctor found that the hole was closing, but not as much as it should have been. They decided to monitor her condition and evaluate her again at her 4 year checkup. During this checkup they found that the hole had not closed up on its own, and they determined that surgery would be needed in order to completely close it up. During testing for the hole, they also found another complication. One side of her heart was enlarged and they found that she has a congenital defect with the valves in her heart and requires open heart surgery to repair the defect in addition to the hole. This will eliminate having two procedures and repair everything at once. As you can imagine, this is a very frightening time for her, her parents, sisters, and our family. But, we are faithful that her surgery will be a success and she will heal and have a happy, healthy life going forward. The other very stressful part to this is the financial burden it will place on her family. Her mother will be out of work for the surgery, and to take care of her until she is completely healed. She will return to work once Olivia is back to normal, however she will not receive a paycheck, and her insurance will have to be paid out of pocket during the time she is out. We cannot imagine what the medical costs will be for this procedure, especially with her mother not being able to work. My sister and her husband have held many fundraisers for family and friends who have needed help in the past. They are not the type of people who want to take "hand-outs"; they would rather be the ones able to give it. Our family truly appreciates anything you may be able to give, even if it is just a prayer for a safe and seedy recovery for Olivia.