Hi, my name is Becka.

I’ve been friends with Jessi since 6th grade, and I’m starting this GoFundMe for her and her sweet daughter, Hazel.

Hazel has been sick since August 22nd and has been in the Huntsville hospital since August 25th. As of today, she is being transferred to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham for further care.

Jessi is a bartender, but with Hazel in the hospital, she hasn’t had the ability to work. While she tries to stay strong for Hazel, I want to make sure finances doesn't become a strain.

I am creating this fundraiser so we can lift the financial burden off Jessi and allow her to focus fully on what matters most—finding answers and getting Hazel better.

Donations will go toward essentials such as rent, power, food, gas, and living expenses while in Birmingham.

Anything helps, and if you’re unable to donate, please share this page and, most importantly, keep Hazel and her family in your prayers.

Thank you so much for your love, support, and kindness during this difficult time

I will post Jessi's post about Hazel below:

Hazel has been at women and childrens hospital for 9 days today. We are being transported to Children’s in Birmingham today.

Bear with me I am mentally and physically exhausted but I’m going to do my best to explain what’s been going on.

Friday 8/22 I got a call from the school nurse that hazel was nauseous. By that night she was running a fever and vomiting.

Sat 8/23 her fever got up to 104° and she broke out in a short lived rash on her arms and legs. We took her to Decatur Morgan ER. They took blood and saw that her inflammatory markers (inflammation in the body) were pretty high! There was talk of giving her fluids, doing some scans, and possibly sending her to Huntsville. They didn’t do any of that. Then after being there for hours they sent us home with a prescription for zofran.

Sunday 8/24 Rotated Tylenol and Motrin and fault fever all weekend , was still vomiting, and diarrhea started.

Monday 8/25 Got her up to bathe and all that good stuff. She actually seemed to feel much better, she even ate a little for the first time since Friday. Around 2pm fever spiked again and we stayed up all night long with high fever, vomiting, diarrhea and a lot of stomach pain. We did not sleep at all!

Tuesday 8/26 around 4AM she started having shortness of breath which scared me. So that’s when I brought her to Huntsville.

From the time I parked my car they have been so sweet, attentive, helpful, amazing!

They got her back and started in on care and treatment right away.

A LOT has happened since Tuesday morning. My poor baby has been a trooper. She’s had multiple scans, X-rays, pokes, ultrasounds, nose swabs and a procedure since we’ve been here. She’s resilient!

There has been a lot of process of elimination going on. The doctors have all worked together as a team and so hard to try to get us answers. Unfortunately they’ve run out of resources here and feel that we’ll have a higher care at Children’s.

What we do know:

She tested positive for rhinovirus when we got here.

Inflammatory markers were really high!

Scans showed her whole GI tract super inflamed. No clear sign as to why. Originally thought it was just a really bad stomach bug but then when she wasn’t getting better, they did another scan and found fluid on her peritoneum (lining of her abdominal cavity).

They done a procedure to remove some of that fluid to test. They did find that it is a bacterial infection of some kind. They sent the fluid to the lab for cultures. While we waited on those to find out exactly what the bacteria is, they started her on an antibiotic that covers a lot of different bacteria. The antibiotics have helped. She’s not in as much pain. Her inflammatory markers started slowly going down. But she still has fever and that’s puzzling because her body is still trying to fight off something. The cultures did not grow. So they sent her labs to a lab in California to try to detect the bacterial DNA. (Those were sent Tuesday 9/2, hoping to receive answers no later than tomorrow).

She has protein in her urine. They said some things match up with nephrotic syndrome( see pictures) and some things don’t. Her kidney function is good. They are not sure if the high protein levels is just related to her being sick from peritonitis( bacterial infection in lining of abdomen). Or if it’s something more.

Both peritonitis and nephrotic syndrome usually happen in kids with prior health issues so it’s puzzling for hazel to have either. So that leads us to her testing positive on her A and A blood test. Which indicate potential presence of autoimmune disease.

Huntsville has been amazing to us and I believe they truly have gone through all available resources and are now sending us to Children’s in Birmingham for a higher level of care. They have more doctors and resources.

There are other things that we’re paying close attention to as well and treating, like small amounts fluid in her lungs which could be from her lying in bed so much and not taking deep enough breaths to clear out her lunch because when she does it expands her diaphragm which causes her stomach pain worsen. She’s doing breathing practices all through the day for that. Physical therapy to make sure she isn’t loosing any muscle mass. She’s had good days and bad days. And we try to get a walk in and sit up in the chair when she can. She has not eaten hardly anything since we’ve been here. But she does seem to tolerate liquids well. There has been talk of putting a feeding tube in her. But we have spoke with the dietitian and have a goal of getting her calorie and protein intake through certain drinks before resorting to that. She understands the importance of drinking these drinks, but it is still hard for her.

On the good days and when the pain medication is doing its job! We’ve made slime, done a scavenger hunt around the pediatrics floor, and we’ve had a pretty view from our room. We can see the rocket and have saw a helicopter land.

I’m sure y’all have more questions and I will do my best to answer them and keep you all updated. Please pray that we get answers soon. It’s nothing serious and that we can go home!

Dash has been with Chad since Tuesday morning. I got to spend one night with him over the weekend. Me and Chad have both been out of work. Not to take away from my emotional support system because it is amazing! Outside of Chad and his girlfriend, I have my mom and Chesley, my boyfriend and a couple of close trusted friends to help with the kids when they are not at work and are available. Hayden has took on some responsibilities at home and is doing okay. I haven’t saw him since this all started either.

Will update later. Please pray!! Close your eyes to talk to God right now and pray!!