Mighty Maren Marie's Memorial Fund

For a Special Family who always puts others before themselves. Austin and Heather Roberts were pregnant to have Maren in May of 2023.

Heather was originally taken to the hospital for having high blood pressure on the night of February 22nd. Her BP continued to get worse, so she was then transported to ProMedica Hospital in Toledo. When she arrived at ProMedica, the doctors were prepared to induce her because her BP continued to climb. At one point her BP was as high as 210/110. Whatever they did next worked though and they were able to get the BP to come down. Heather and Austin were then told that she was diagnosed with “ Preeclampsia with Severe Features” and were informed that Heather would need to spend the 8 weeks on hospitalized bed rest.

3 nights later, Heather’s BP would become uncontrollable again and the doctors had run out of BP medicines that they were able to give her. On February 27th at 1:15 am heather had an emergency C-section surgery and gave birth at 26 weeks. Heather and Austin named her Maren Marie Roberts. She was born at 1 lb 10 oz. Despite Marens very premature age, she was deemed healthy by the NICU team and only needed to be intubated for a few hours before being changed over to a regular breathing machine. The nurses over the next week, all the nurses and doctors referred to Maren as “feisty” and were so impressed with how well she was doing.

Unfortunately, after the first week she was born, Maren started to get sick. The doctors ran tests and found out that Maren was infected with MRSA, which is a blood infection and seems to be common in hospitals. Normally adults can fight and get rid of the infection. But for a baby this young, with a weak immune system and underdeveloped organs it is very dangerous.

Maren would then spend the next 2 weeks fighting this infection, gradually getting more and more swollen and needing more breathing and medicine support, due to her kidneys not being able to keep up.

On Monday morning, March 20th, Maren got her 2nd Negative 48-hour blood culture test, officially being MRSA-free.

Unfortunately on Monday night, Maren’s heart rate dropped and the doctor and nurses had to rush in. They found that she had so much fluid around her heart and lungs that neither organ was able to expand. The doctor then hurried to remove the fluid, which was successful. However, Maren was just not able to bounce back and the doctor said her blood was not being pumped through her body well enough. The doctor then suggested that the family and the pastor come in to be with Maren and her parents.

For the next several hours, Maren's parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all got to spend time and talk with her. She was so blessed to be able to have so much family there for her. Maren was baptized by Heather and Austin's pastor.

After all of Maren’s family was able to see her, heather and Austin spoke with the doctor and nurses. They told them that she was continuing to decline and that the breathing machine was the only thing keeping her alive. Heather and Austin then made the impossible decision to remove Maren’s breathing machine. Heather and Austin then held Maren as she passed away.

Maren was the strongest most “feisty” baby and fought to the very end. Unfortunately, even though she beat the infection, it took too great of a toll on her body. Maren was loved by so many people, and we will never forget her!