Help us recover from the fallout of our loss

Updated June 2023:

If you're reading this now, we are still in the aftermath of the horrific loss of our baby girl, Nora. Nora's memorial service has come and gone, but we are left with the lifelong pain of losing a child we love so much. To be frank, I underestimated just how deep the pain would run and for how long. In addition, her death happened on the heels of some very difficult years for our family, which included disability, financial hardship, losing my mom to a brutal battle with cancer and more. We will be making payments on our deceased daughter's medical bills for years to come. In short, we are emotionally and financially exhausted. If you stumble upon this message and have the means to do so, we appreciate anything you'd be able to contribute. Funds will be used to get us financially and emotionally back on track. We have not had the luxury of relaxation in several years. We would love to spend a week in the woods connecting with nature and soothing our souls if we can find the means to do so.

We deeply appreciate all the contributions last year. I can honestly say I'm not sure how we would have survived without them.

Original story from July 2022:

Hello, I'm Julie Gilburd. We (me, my husband Dave, our daughter Cora and our extended family) are devastated by the loss of our 4-day-old daughter Nora, who died of complications from congenital diaphragmatic hernia and a suspected aortic stenosis. Our sweet baby Nora was born June 30th by emergency C-section, and died peacefully in our arms on July 3rd.

Diaphragmatic hernia is when a hole forms in the diaphragm which allows the organs that are typically confined to the lower abdomen to shift upwards and - in this case - displace the baby's lungs and heart, preventing her left lung from developing properly, and putting strain on the heart muscle. This, combined with the aortic stenosis meant that she didn't have hope of overcoming the resulting problems (regulating breathing and blood pressure) long enough to have the corrective surgery to repair the diaphragm.

Doctors discovered this defect in March, which threw my pregnancy into high risk category and started a rotation of appointments for follow-up scans, specialist consultations, and eventually weekly scans to monitor baby Nora's growth and condition. As the bills roll in, we're realizing that a lot of these scans fall outside of what insurance will cover. We already have about $3700 in outstanding bills related to these tests, scans, and appointments, and those are only through part of May; it doesn't include any of the NICU/PICU stay, which we expect to be very costly.

More importantly to us right now, though, is making arrangements for a memorial service so we can properly honor our beautiful child in the presence of our family and friends. We would also like to find other ways to honor her memory as time goes on and the shock of grief wears off.

We know times are tight for almost everyone right now, so please know we are humbled by any donations we receive, and will always try to pay it forward when we are able to, for others who are down and suffering.