Hello, our names are Naomi and Joseph Baker. We live in a small town in southwest Missouri called Reeds Spring with our four kids and random assortment of critters.
Many of you already know our sassy girl Becca, if you’re on this page you may already know a good bit of her history. If not, there is a (moderately) short ‘saga of Becca’ below. This fund site has been set up to help in the day-to-day needs/expenses that we are finding as she grows and requires more things that are not covered by insurance. Many of you have asked in the past if there would be ways to help, and now we are humbly feeling led to open this page.
Our eldest daughter, Rebecca Grace Baker was born December 31, 2011. In utero, an ultrasound found out that Becca had a kidney abnormality, but other than that Becca was a healthy baby. She had a few UTI’s as a little bitty baby, but close to 6 months she was cleared as ‘doing well’ in that realm. However, likely unrelated to her kidney issues, when Becca was six months old, she had a pulmonary and cardiac arrest and died on our living room floor. We started CPR and called the ambulance. We were unable to revive her. When the paramedics arrived, they took over and they were unable to revive her either, but continued to try on the way to the hospital in Branson, Missouri. The local hospital was able to get a faint heartbeat and prepped her to go to Cox Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. Due to a lightning storm, they were unable to fly in the helicopter so we took a 45 mile ambulance ride to Cox. By the time we got there, Becca had been more than 45 minutes with no readable blood pressure. The outlook was not good, but …God! Through our prayers and the prayers of our friends, family, and church, God gave her back to us. We spent weeks in the picu, and were told daily that Becca would not make it, and if she did the brain damage would be so severe she would likely be a vegetable and if she was lucky, she might live one year. Even half a year after the arrest, when we had a brain scan done, the neurologist said she would never know us, never talk, walk, communicate, eat, never enjoy music, never anything. Thankfully that ‘news’ didn’t come before we already could see progress in the fact that Becca knew us, loved music, and at that time could eat a bit as well. Brain scans may tell a lot, but our God can turn the ‘impossible’ on end. Becca is now 13 years old, and doing really well. Yes, she has her ups and downs, and provides us a fairly consistent reminder that God is in control - not mom and dad as much as we would like to be! Becca loves music, loves to swing, loves spending time with her family, nurses, and classmates and is very aware of everything that goes on. She goes to school and is part of normal classes as well as being in the special Ed room. This year her SPED teacher has been challenging her to work hard in the ways that she can, and Becca has been rising to the challenge. (That is, when she’s not teasing her therapists and nurses and either playing possum or sassing and joking with her eye gaze tablet!) This is a device that tracks her eye movements, so her eyes move the cursor and select words to speak, and she can also use it to do tests at school. She has surpassed everything that the doctor said she would never do. We serve a great God, and He has given us a wonderful miracle.
Our insurance covers most all of Becca‘s medical needs, but as she gets bigger, we do have some needs that insurance does not cover such as some needed home renovations, transportation needs, meds that are not covered, etc. Becca is doing well but especially as she grows she requires a lot of specialized stuff. We have had lots of friends and family offer to help so that is why we are starting this fundraiser. The largest expense we have is the house; renovations, extra rooms, wider doors, lifts to move her, and a larger bathroom. This will cost far more than the amount that we’ve posted as a goal, but it’s a start. Thank you for considering helping and God bless.