My two beautiful friends lost their precious 2 day old baby, Harry, on April 5th. As you can imagine this is a parents worst nightmare, and to top that off, this isn’t the first time they have had to say goodbye to a child. On November 6th, 2021 Brittany & Doug said hello and good bye the their twins Avery & Briar after an early labour at 18 weeks. Seeing them work through the loss of their twins was heart wrenching enough, but then seeing them fight their way through that was awe inspiring. They have been on a long battle with infertility for over seven years and through that time have now carried, delivered, and held their three children as they each took their last breath.

Tragically, at 24 weeks pregnant, baby Harry was diagnosed with a rare condition called Vein of Galen Malformation(VOGM). As well, Brittany was previously on bed rest to prevent another early labour like she had with the twins. Doug took the reigns to allow Brittany to focus on being as relaxed and low stress as possible and managed to connect with a bunch of different doctors starting at McMaster Hospital, then Toronto Sick Kids, and even a specialist from Boston. This team worked together and formulated a plan.

Harry was born at 10:47am on Wednesday April 3rd weighing 6.6lbs via C-section at Mount Sinai Hospital. They were able to hear him cry, give a little kiss and then he was whisked off to Sick Kids to undergo some tests and then in for an MRI. Doug was able to spend a little time with him, and then by 6:45pm, Harry required his 1st surgery which lasted 6 hours. The team was able to close 1/3 of the feeder arteries, doctors were very happy. He soared through this like such a little fighter and recovery went well. Brittany was able to spend some time with him on Thursday morning, pushing the bounds of her own recovery to be with her son. On Friday April 5th, Harry went in for his 2nd surgery, in hopes of closing off another third, and this surgery was also successful. Unfortunately this time recovery did not go as planned and after some post surgery testing, they found that there was no longer any brain activity. They were given a private room outside of the NICU to hold him and have a few hours saying their goodbyes.

Brittany & Dougs’ lives are forever impacted. A parent can never plan for the loss of a child, never mind three children. I am asking for donations to help this young loving family with any funeral expenses and to help manage their expenses over the next few months so they can stay home as they grieve the loss of their son. I do not want them to have to worry about anything other than healing their hearts. Please donate if you have the capacity to do so, big or small so that they can have the time they need to heal from this initial impact. If you are unable to donate please help by sharing this post.

Thank-you,

Erica