I'm Shay, a very close friend to one of the most loving and generous people I know - Nicole Whitcher.

Recently Nicole had her third child, the beautiful Evely Rose. This moment should have been another joyous chapter in Nicole's life, instead it was extremely traumatic and has put Nicole into a very difficult place financially, emotionally and physically.

Because some of the intimate details of this are before the courts, I can't get into the main components of what transpired that led to this, but what I can share is that Nicole needs help more now than ever.

Because of an incident that had happened in July Nicole had been advised by her midwife that her blood pressure was very high and would need to be monitered daily. In spite of her best efforts it was near impossible to decrease the stress that was happening for her. In early September Nicole was admitted into the hospital in Vernon, doctors tried all efforts with medication to try and stabilize her levels but were becoming increasingly worried when their efforts were failing. She was flown by air ambulance to BC Woman’s Hospital in Vancouver on September 9th. She started to develop fluid around her lungs and the condition of preeclampsia that she was newly diagnosed with was aggressively taking over her health. On September 13, 2022 Evely Rose was born via emergency c-section. Two and a half months early, weighing 2.7lbs.

Her heart was shattered. This was a heartache she could have never imagined or prepared for.

Thankfully Evely wasn’t born with any major complications. They have a long healing road ahead of them. Nicole is now in Kelowna General Hospital with Evely.

Nicole has two other children she’s not able to be at home with right now, being in the NICU with Evely, I see how hard this has been on all of them. Nicole’s children are her whole world. She is one of the most dedicated mothers I have ever met.

On top of this all, Nicole is dealing with all this by herself. Due to unforeseen circumstances she has to bare the financial responsibilities alone.

This is where I ask for your help. Nicole needs support, and being the amazing strong woman she is, doesn’t want to ask for help, so I asked her permission to share her story - while unique to her is not one that is unique to women. And Indigenous women in particular are 10 times more likely to be subjected to domestic violence. Emotionally, physically and spiritually I know that Nicole will heal and overcome this overwhelmingly difficult time because I know how strong and resilient she is. My hope for Nicole is for her to continue to focus on healing each day with just a little less worry of the financial stress right now. From the bottom of my heart I thank you for all your kindness and support. If you can donate any amount to help ease some of the financial worry to help Nicole and her children at this time, your generosity means so so much. If you can’t donate, please share.

All my heart,

Shay.