Boozhoo or hello, I am Elisabeth Carufel, Lane LeFevre’s godmother and his mother Jackie LeFevre’s best friend. I am fundraising for Lane and his family as their lives have been turned upside down in recent health incidents, that will affect their daily living for the foreseeable future. Those who know Jackie and Jake, parents of Lane, they are some of the most honest, kind, and selfless people I know. I have never known them to not offer a helping hand or a shoulder to lean on whether it was friend, family, or even foe. They have dealt with their fair share of hardships as most of us do, and I have never seen them to give up hope. In the last few years they celebrated a new home, a new marriage, a new life. That new life welcomed a year after an unfortunate health complication that resulted in a precious life taken in utero.

The family is now faced with another unexpected obstacle. On May 24, 2023 their son was rushed to the PICU. As suspicions grew a few days after receiving his 6 month old vaccinations to prevent meningitis, Lane fell extremely sick. Prior to his admission into the PICU, he was sent home twice for an ear infection. Jake and Jackie knew in their parental instinct something was wrong and didn’t give up trying to help him. Only to be told to “let the antibiotics work.” Jackie rushed Lane to the ER again the following day after he didn’t wake up. After Jackie pointed out to doctors that Lane’s head appeared to be swollen while sitting in the ER, they rushed to have a head CT done. They preformed a spinal tap to test his spinal fluid, which is the same fluid that surrounds the brain. The test results came back that Lane had Bacterial Meningitis which is very RARE and dangerously FATAL(the mortality rate is high and so are the chances for hearing loss and other long term disabilities). Lane was rushed by ambulance to the nearest PICU and has remained there for over a week now. He has endured X-rays, CT scans, MRI’s, daily blood testing, a 2nd spinal tap, the highest antibiotics, put under to insert a PICC line(central line), and this little boy keeps fighting. After waking up… his mom and dad realized Lane can no longer hear whatsoever. Lane is lucky to have the brave parents he has, they wasted no time into learning sign language while he took his naps. Spending every moment in the PICU to find resources, manage their personal and work lives, and research what this new path means for their family.

Lane has a long, unknown, road to recovery ahead of him. It is too early to know the immediate impacts that this brain infection and brain swelling have done to his little body. Lane has been referred to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee to see specialists. A surgery to gain any amount of hearing back would be time sensitive. Both Jackie and Jake have been off of work, sleeping in chairs by his bedside. After time sensitive efforts at Children’s, they will need a home health nurse and Jackie will have to make tough decisions between her career and being the primary caretaker for Lane. They will continue to accumulate an unimaginable expenses with the need of future travel, medical care, and lodging to Milwaukee to give Lane the fighting chance he deserves. Jake and Jackie would do anything to help anyone. Jake would never say no to helping someone in need and Jackie wouldn’t hesitate to send you surprise Amazon gifts in the mail or flowers to cheer you up. They are givers and have hearts of gold. They would never ask for help but I know they would appreciate any help and support so they can focus on Lane.

Knowing the strength this family has, I’m taking it upon myself to start this fundraiser in hopes to help lighten the load of all the challenges they will face in these next few months as they adjust to find the best medical care and plan for Lane to have the best quality life. I personally thank you for taking the time read their story and if you cannot make a monetary donation at this time, please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers. They have supported many and now it is our time to support them.