Lena Hall's Medical Journey

Hi, we are the Hall family. We spent the past nine years in the United Arab Emirates working with an education non-profit to bring a blessing to families and professionals in the Middle East. We thought we'd be there longer, but the complicated birth of our first daughter, the desire to be close to family, and the impending arrival of our second daughter brought us back to the USA in February 2022.

On June 18, 2022, we welcomed our 2nd daughter into the world, Lena Jace Hall. We thought there would be no complications this time, but disaster struck our family a 2nd time. Lena was born with Vacteral Syndrome, the most serious issue being that her Esophagus does not connect to her stomach. We thought we would get to our new home in Chicago quickly after delivering Lena in Texas, but insurance issues have kept us grounded until this week.

Now, we finally have the approval to head to Lurie Children's in Chicago to begin a 9-12 month NICU journey to reconnect those parts of her body. We thought we could raise Lena on our own, but it turns out that we need your help.

We are raising funds for two things, 1) the medical flight to get Lena from Austin to Chicago (about $22,000), and 2) extra expenses that we will incur living close to the hospital in downtown Chicago for up to 1 year (we think about $1,100 a month)

In so many ways, this was not what we thought would happen, but it is what we have been given. It's not the story we wanted, but we are discovering the beauty in the pain while not dismissing the grief we are bearing. Thank you for helping us carry this beautiful burden.

If you want to follow our updates in more detail, head over to our CaringBridge site here: Lena Hall Medical Updates

With Love,

Travis, Emily, Mercie, and Lena