Love & Support for Baby Grant

On June 25, 2024 a wee miracle was born to proud parents Trevor Grant and Bre Maxwell, and big sister Elsie. She was born just shy of 30 weeks and weighs in at 2lbs and 14 ounces of absolute perfection. This story all began on New Years Day when my sister was admitted in to the hospital in an incredible amount of pain. Unfortunately she was not diagnosed in time and her appendix had actually ruptured inside of her! Imaging had missed it and it wasn’t until they surgically opened her up looking directly for the cause that they discovered the ruptured appendix. It was a terrifying time for us all, but ended with some amazing news! It was during this hospital stay that she found out that she was also in the early weeks of pregnancy. We all prayed and prayed and prayed that the baby would be okay. As time went on and a healthy pregnancy progressed after all of that, we knew this sweet little baby truly was a miracle. We thought the scary times were behind us, we had no idea what was about to come next. Over this past weekend my sister had a very high fever and wasn’t feeling well at all. Her symptoms kept progressing and in the wee hours of the morning on Monday she was admitted in to Peterborough Hospital. It was there that they discovered that she had a really bad infection of some sort (likely stemming from the appendix rupture in January) and they started running a lot of tests to get to the bottom of it. They had her on IV antibiotics but after 24 hours and no improvement, they felt it was best to send her on to Toronto Hospital. But before that was able to take place, baby girl’s heart rate dropped and Bre was rushed in for an emergency c-section. It was an incredibly terrifying time for Trevor and Bre, as you can imagine. Because of the swift, knowledgeable and down right amazing staff at PRHC, baby girl was delivered extremely quickly and immediately put on breathing support. She is still on this earth with us today thanks to them! We will all be forever grateful, they truly are the definition of ‘heroes who don’t wear capes’. Baby girl was airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto and Bre was able to reunite with her on Wednesday after she was discharged from Peterborough. We don’t know just how long the road ahead is, but we know it will be long. Baby girl will be in Sunnybrook for quite some time. Bre is off work earlier than expected now, Trevor will also have to take unexpected time off work, and there will be lots of travel expenses in the months ahead. The long drive is hard enough as is, but especially so while recovering from a c-section and also trying to care for 3 year old Elsie. My sister is the most nurturing and attentive mother, and her heart is really torn between two places right now as you can imagine. I am hoping to be able to find them some accommodations nearby for longer stay durations, to avoid so much back and forth driving. I want to be able to avoid any financial burden or stress that this could cause and instead give them one less thing to worry about right now.

On behalf of both the Grant and Maxwell families, I would like to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for the continued prayers, love and support. It’s in times like these when we are reminded that it certainly does - take a village.

Much love,

Chantal Koster (also known as Auntie Fred)