Between running a home care and garden business during CoVid,  maintaining a small farm, struggling with unexpected vehicle repairs, birthing a beautiful baby, and arranging for minor medical procedures for the newborn, Ray and Brandi have already been juggling multiple difficult financial set-backs.  In the last week Brandi suffered a potentially life threatening medical condition that has been the proverbial straw on the camel's back. With nowhere else to turn, they are asking for our help.

 

Hi!

My name is Keith and I am leading the effort to help two beautiful people get back on their feet.

 

Brandi, Ray and baby, Cedar Wolf, need our help!

 

Brandi and Ray do so much to help others, from delivering bone broth to people with CoVid to helping the elderly deal with local Public Safety Power Shutoffs and potential evacuations in fire season. They contribute to the Fort Bragg economy with their home and garden care business and support workers that depend on them. They grow their own food and freely share the knowledge they have gained. They reach out a hand anytime they are asked, and they get asked a lot!

 

What Happened?

 

In August they happily welcomed baby, Cedar Wolf, into the family.  Baby's are a blessing and this baby is beautiful, but after he was born, life got tougher. Every parent knows how difficult it is to balance work and newborn childcare and doing so in a pandemic is even harder. There is no maternity leave when you run your own business.  Running a business does not automatically come with medical benefits to cover birthing expenses, and both Brandi and Ray have had to stop or delay many of their jobs.

 

 

 

 

In recent months, Ray and Brandi had already been juggling their business, newborn and homestead responsibilities against the need for a minor surgical procedure to help Cedar Wolf nurse more comfortably. With no insurance resources available, they faced the challenges and scheduled one surgery out of town,  making the necessary hotel and travel arrangements and adding to the already crushing expenses. They still have another even more complex surgery to go before Cedar is all done.

Then things got worse!

 

On January 27th Brandi began her first period after giving birth and started hemorrhaging. The bleeding was intense and very frightening. In less than 36 hours she lost close to 900ml of blood.

 

Ray had to cancel the few jobs he had scheduled and put out a call for help:

 

"We have an emergency with Brandi. I need friends to help us get Brandi and I ready to leave for ER ... I need someone that can run errands possibly a few other things so I can stay by her side right now."

 

As they packed their bags for the possibility of an emergency run to the hospital, they learned that the hospital would not allow Ray or the baby to accompany Brandi, due to the CoVid protocols.

 

Brandi explained why that was a problem:

 

"I can’t take care of Wolf by myself, but I need him to have access to my milk. I don’t have any milk pumped, and he’s never had a bottle."

 

It bears repeating that the baby HAS to stay with Brandi! Aside from limited access, the hospital comes with additional risks for the baby, including: CoVid (especially during the current Omicron surge), other viruses, noise, disruption and feeding schedules. The emergency has presented them with a very difficult choice - Brandi's hemorrhage versus exposing their newborn to health risks of his own.

 

Brandi and Ray fight on.

 

Ray and Brandi are well connected with two nurses, a doctor, and two extremely experienced mid-wives that have all helped them address the emergency and the effort to keep things from getting worse. They have had success in following the advice they have been given by their team and in using a range of holistic solutions to help Brandi clot. The bleeding has slowed but has left Brandi anemic and weak.

 

How will GoFundMe help?

 

This emergency has generated still more medical expenses and brought their ability to serve their clients, manage their small farm, and process the crops that were ready to be harvested, to a screeching halt. Without being able to serve clients, they have no money coming in. At this point, the well is dry and they are at the end of their rope.

Ray and Brandi are the model of positivity but the challenges they currently face are taxing them beyond anyone’s capacity. They need our help to keep their family afloat and they need it right now!

 

Please reach into your pockets and contribute whatever you can, even a few dollars will help. The saying goes, “many hands make light work” so please share this with your own networks and spread the word wide that these beautiful selfless people need our love and kindness.

Thank you in advance for your kind contribution.