Help Support Baby Ava’s Road to Recovery

Our baby Ava Ann Fleischer was born on July 10th at only 28 weeks and weighed 2 pounds 7 ounces. That morning was extremely traumatic as Rebecca woke up to bleeding. Thankfully I was home and able to get her to Vassar in time as the surgeon immediately decided that she needed an emergency c-section. Ava has been in the neonatal intensive care unit since her birth. She had breathing tubes and prongs in her nose, as well as feeding tubes in her nose and mouth for the majority of her stay so far. She still has what are called “episodes,” where her heart rate suddenly drops extremely low as well as her saturation levels. On a few occasions it seemed as though she was almost ready to come home to us, but unfortunately her episodes continued and still are which are keeping her there until an unknown date. As you can imagine, for any parents and especially mothers, this is a very painful, stressful, and overwhelming time even though we remain positive on her success. But unfortunately I was wrongfully terminated from my union job on September 20th where I was assured my job was secure. This was our only source of income and we were relying on the promise of great family health insurance and our right to my NYS paid 12 weeks of paternity family leave. We are not the type of people to ask for financial help, but we have now fallen in extremely difficult financial times. Any help or sharing of our story is appreciated beyond words. Proceeds will go to medical bills and other necessary expenses. Thank you for any support and in the future we will pay it forward to someone else in need.