Help Jamie, Daniel and Serenity Recover

Nissa Manley is organizing this fundraiser.

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This incredible little girl and her parents need your help! They have enormous unmet needs due to medical emergencies beyond their control.

I first met Jamie, Daniel and Serenity when we were staying in Ronald McDonald House in Orlando, Florida. Our daughter was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and Serenity was in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. That was December of 2018, and they have been on an exhausting health journey ever since. Our daughter was discharged in January 2019, allowing us to return to Montana. We have remained in close contact, watching our girls grow. Serenity was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 (SMA) before her hospitalization in 2018. SMA is a severe neurological disease that is often fatal within the first two years of life. Children with Type 1 require assistance breathing and eating and are very susceptible to respiratory infection and distress. Disease-modifying treatments have been improving. The only currently available treatment for SMA for children over the age of 2 is a drug called Spinraza. With Spinraza, Serenity has been improving. After Serenity recovered and was released, Jamie and Daniel relocated to New York to be closer to family and the doctor who had treated her in Florida. They were all in New York when the Covid-19 pandemic began. Serenity had to remain in a rehabilitation facility to protect her from the virus and could not see her parents in person for almost a year. In April of 2021, Serenity required emergency surgery. Due to the New York hospital still being overwhelmed with Covid patients, she had to be airlifted back to Florida for the surgery. During her recovery, she became ill and required hospitalization for an extended duration. Due to Serenity's hospitalization in Florida, Jamie and Daniel decided to move back to Florida to be with her. Both Jamie and Daniel were vaccinated as soon as they could be. After they were both fully vaccinated, Serenity could be at home on the weekends and was getting ready to start school.

In September, Jamie underwent major abdominal surgery, which removed part of her transverse colon. She recovered slowly; then Serenity required another surgery at the beginning of November. November ended with Jamie back in the hospital with surgery-related issues. On New Year's Eve, Daniel's great-grandmother passed away, and they decided to go back to New York for the funeral. On the day of the wake, Daniel's uncle was killed in a car accident. They decided to stay for his uncle's wake on the 12th. On the 13th, Serenity was admitted to the hospital again with a high fever and respiratory distress. The same day, Daniel got a rapid Covid test, which was positive. By the 19th, Daniel was on a ventilator in a hospital an hour away from Jamie and Serenity. Jamie has only been able to see him using Facetime and Skype, but has not been able to visit him due to Covid restrictions. On the 21st of January, Daniel's medical team decided to try and remove him from the ventilator. He struggled while off the ventilator, and the medical team put him back on it on the 24th. Daniel came off the ventilator again on the 26th and has remained off it since. Serenity has continued to struggle, with every step forward followed by at least one step back. Her doctors expect her to stay in the hospital for at least a month. At this point, her right lung has collapsed, and her left lung has a lot of fluid in it. Her team plans on doing more chest physical therapy to help clear her lungs. On the first of February, Serenity was intubated and fully sedated due to the physical stress caused by the chest therapy. She will remain on the ventilator until her lungs clear.

At this point, there is no clear timeline as to when Daniel will be able to return to work, and with Serenity in the hospital in New York, it is also challenging to know when they will be able to return home to Florida. They have received no sick leave or paid time off from Daniel's work. Throughout this ordeal, Jamie has been by Serenity's side, doing everything she can to keep her little family together and up on their feet.

Jamie and Daniel are two of the most considerate, hard-working people I have ever met. They have faced so much adversity and still have the energy to try and take care of those around them. While watching Serenity, Jamie has continued to check in on my family, who had Covid. All funds raised will go to paying hospital bills and helping with living expenses while Daniel recovers. If there are any funds left over (God willing), Jamie and Daniel will use those funds to help pay for Serenity's Spinraza treatments.

Any donations are immensely appreciated and will help this amazing little family through an extraordinarily difficult time. I have been in daily contact with Jamie, and they are in genuine need of assistance. While Daniel has been in the hospital, their daily expenses have continued to mount with no income.