Help Juniper Recover After Emergency Hospitalization

My name is Dianne Cook, and my 10-year-old daughter, Juniper, needs your help. A compassionate, animal-obsessed, friend-to-all—Juniper woke up in late July with flu-like symptoms. After several days of illness, just when hope of recovery sparked, her symptoms intensified. An urgent care visit turned into a rushed trip to the Children’s Hospital emergency room, where doctors discovered Juniper had critically elevated liver and kidney values, and she was immediately admitted.

About Juniper

— Preparing to enter the 5th grade, Juniper is kind-hearted, gentle, witty, and absolutely adores cats, reptiles, and insects. Her dream is to one day move to “any state that gets a lot of snow” and live out her dream as an exotic animal veterinarian.

What Happened

— Juniper’s symptoms (vomiting, lethargy, pallor, abdominal discomfort, and fever) initially began to improve before suddenly and dramatically getting worse. Urgent care led to an ER transfer, where critical lab values sent her straight into treatment. With aggressive care, her liver and kidney values improved—but even at discharge, her kidneys were operating at just 70%, her blood pressure remained high, and liver markers were still elevated.

Why We Need Help

— UnitedHealthcare has refused to cover Juniper’s hospital stay—deeming it unnecessary. This denial follows another from earlier this year when I was hospitalized for a heart attack, chronic pancreatitis, and non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. The double denial has ballooned our medical debt from staggering to crippling.

Extra Challenge

— My February hospitalization and ongoing recovery have depleted my PTOs and income. Although eligible for FMLA, time spent caring for Juniper and attending the necessary follow-up appointments has left us without my essential pay for weeks.

Hope is Not Lost

We’re humbly asking for assistance in covering Juniper’s continuing medical expenses—doctor visits, imaging, lab work, etc.—as well as everyday needs like gas to get to and from appointments, dietary supplements, and meal shakes to support her appetite recovery. Every dollar will go directly toward her healing and recovery so she can navigate her final year of elementary school with hope and strength. Any additional funds will go towards the family's monthly expenses (mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc).

Please donate, share, and help us lift the weight of medical debt so Juniper can focus on being the sweet, resilient kid she is. From the bottom of our hearts—thank you.