Baby Koen's NICU Fund

My name is Anna, and I am an avid traveler and a Canadian neonatal nurse. Recently, two of my passions in life (traveling and helping others), collided.

This story starts a few years ago when I met Justine, Koen’s mom, while traveling to the remote town of El Nido, Palawan in the Philippines. At the time, Justine was living with her rescue dog Jack and teaching English as a second language. We quickly bonded and discovered that we both had grown up in Ontario, Canada, living just minutes away from each other. I ended up staying in El Nido for an additional 3 weeks, creating amazing memories and a lasting connection with my beautiful new friend. She was smart beyond her years, strong, funny, spiritual, and cared very deeply about her friends and her community. Justine organized fundraisers for sick babies, started a book club for kids in her neighborhood, created a clothing donation drive to provide for children in need, and even hosted birthday parties and movie nights for local kids. I felt inspired and was encouraged by Justine to continue following my own dreams of helping others by becoming a Registered Nurse on my return to Canada.

The next time Justine and I would be reunited would be a few years later. She was pregnant and had made the long journey back to Canada to deliver her baby here surrounded by family and friends. Unfortunately, Justine was heartbroken when she suffered a spontaneous pregnancy loss and had to return to her home in the Philippines with empty arms. New hope blossomed this past year when she became pregnant again with her rainbow baby. After many months of uncertainty and fear, she delivered her son Koen on April 21st of 2023.

A couple weeks ago, when Koen was only 19 days old, he started having trouble breathing. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital in Puerto Princesa where he had been born, over 5 hours away from his home in El Nido. He was admitted directly to their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and placed on respiratory support. He was extremely sick with aspiration pneumonia and required lifesaving interventions and medications. After days of testing and treatments, they finally discovered that Koen has a serious heart condition, which had caused him to develop an infection in his chest.

Justine and her family are completely devastated by Koen’s diagnosis. To add to their stressful circumstances, without universal healthcare being available in the Philippines, only a small fraction of the hospital bill was covered by their government insurance.

Since meeting Justine back in 2018, I have graduated from my nursing program and currently work in the NICU at the Ottawa General Hospital. I have been trying my best to provide my friend with emotional support during these trying times. Knowing how much Justine has helped others in need and how this has financially devastated her family, I thought I could turn the tables and start this GoFundMe page. Any donations raised would help her and her family cover Koen’s NICU hospitalization bill, as well as childcare, travel expenses, loss of wages and costs of upcoming cardiologist appointments and procedures.

My passion for travel led me to meet a wonderful friend, and my passion to help others has led me to start this GoFundMe. Justine has opened her heart to others in need and now I hope you can find it in your heart to help me help her.