Let’s Rally for Miss Mae
On Monday, February 26, my one-year-old niece Brynn was rushed from urgent care to Primary Children’s Medical center via an ambulance. Brynn’s oxygen levels were too low because she was having difficulty breathing. It turned out she had a very bad viral infection similar to RSV. She was in the intensive care and monitored. She was under the constant care of the amazing doctors and nurses at Primary Children’s for about a week. It was a tough fight but she turned around and eventually got to go home and was back to her sassy self.
Last Saturday I was with my sister and she got a call from her husband. Brynn was having difficulty breathing and he was worried her infection was back. They rushed to the doctor and tests showed her oxygen levels were at critical levels.
They immediately rushed her back to Primary Children’s via ambulance. More tests revealed she had a viral infection again and on top of that had developed Pneumonia. She is now back at Primary Children’s in the intensive care unit. She is stable, but she has a long fight ahead of her.
In this process, one interesting thing I learned about health insurance, is if you have multiple members in your family, your out of pocket maxim is calculated by the number of people in your family.
For me, a single guy, the most damage that could be done is $5,000. For someone like my sister, whose policy includes her husband and her three children, the out of pocket cap is MUCH higher.
Chrissy just got the bill for her portion that insurance didn’t pay for Brynn’s first stay. It was $4,000. I can’t even imagine what the next bill is going to be.
My sister and her husband are looking at probably close to $10,000-15,000 in hospital expenses and foregone wages after all is said and done. Right now, they are really just focusing on their little girl and helping her in her fight to get better. This is a huge financial hit for their family, and I am asking everyone who is able and willing to help me raise funds to offset these expenses. They aren’t the kind of people to ask for help, and my sister is such a trooper and just always takes things like this on and deals with it. But I know this is something that is weighing on her.
I hope you can join me and help them have one less thing to worry about. Any gift, no matter the amount, will help make a huge difference for my sister and her family.
If you can’t give or support, I totally understand, please share with friends and keep Brynn in your thoughts and prayers. Brynn, or “Miss Mae”, as we like to call her is a fighter, and even though she’s one, she’s ALL sass. She’s got to keep those brothers of hers in their place after all.
