Hi, My name is Justine Melchior and I am helping my friends Erick and Miriam raise funds for the wake, burial and funeral costs for their 2 year old daughter Eva.

 

 

Let me back up. Erick and Miriam had their 3rd child, Eva, who was born premature at 22 weeks old in February of 2019. Being premature came with some complications, at 25 weeks she had her first surgery PDE to close up her heart.  November just so happens to be prematurity awareness month. Eva was considered a "Micro Preemie" due to her very early birth.

 

 

Eva was in the hospital for 11 1/2 months and finally got to go home with a tracheotmy and fitting tube. 4 months later, she had her check up with the doctors and something wasn't right. Eva had and ultrasound and they found that she had developed liver cancer. In May she had liver transplant surgery. It was a miracle that the tumor in her liver was the size that it was and she still survived to receive the donor liver. Since then they have gone through several surgeries and treatments with Eva, she surpassed the 1 year mark with the liver which was very positive but with these things, there are no guarantees.

 

 

She also was in need of a kidney transplant. 3 days a week she would go in for dialysis so that her blood could be cleaned and the machines could do the work of her kidneys. Because of the major surgery with her liver, they were hoping to get her on the donor list for the kidney, but she had a long way of healing to go for that to be a possibility.

 

 

For the past 2-3 months she has almost exclusively been in the hospital and they feared that she would again, need a new liver. They added her to the donor list yet again, pushing off any chance for the kidney transplant she so desperately needed.

 

 

On the evening of Wed Nov 10th the doctors called them to let them know that she was not only very sick, but that they were taking her off the donor list. Her liver transplant was rejecting and she was in severe pain. The doctors told them that there was no more that they could do. They kept her comfortable and stopped dialysis. She passed with her family on the afternoon of November 12th.

 

 

Miriam has been Eva's sole caretaker since birth. Dealing with all the nurses, transportation, doctors, home health care nurses, mishaps and a mountain of medical supplies. It is a double full-time job. I know that with all the complications Eva's life was in danger and both Erick and Miriam's diligence kept her alive. They have 2 other lovely-sweet kids named Ethan and Emma. Erick works 2 jobs to help keep the family a float and fed. They have medical bills for miles and have no savings to cover the costs of Eva's funeral and burial arrangements, which we think will cost in the ballpark of $10,000. Then there is the loss of income and pending medical costs, so we are very conservatively setting the fundraising goal at $15,000.

 

 

We are asking that you make a donation, however you can. It would be so generous and appreciated. No one wants to see their child pass. I am heart sick writing this. I should also mention that they have never posted about Eva's condition on social media as it has been too painful to even sit down to write about. We have been talking about doing a Go Fund Me to cover medical bills for 2 years and they finally asked me in desperation last night if I would help them.

 

 

Thank you to all of our restaurant family at Bacio and our many co-workers at Bloomington Acura Subaru for your continued support. I personally met and got to know Erick through both of these jobs. What a blessing!

 

Thanks for your consideration. Hug your family. Donate what you can and share. :)