Support for Jamie and Brett

Ashley Gerber is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Jamie Rainey.

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As the sisters of Jamie, Kylie, and I (Ashley) are looking for support from family, friends, and community here in Canada as we gather around Jamie and Brett during their time of grief.

It is with very heavy hearts that we say goodbye to their newborn baby boy (our nephew) - Rowe Michael Thomas-Rainey, born in the early morning on July 23, 2021. Jamie was 35 weeks pregnant when it appeared the baby was in distress during a hospital check at the Royal Women’s ED, and the Doctors made the call to deliver him via emergency c-section at 5 am. With a great deal of love, support, and hope, their Specialist care team did everything they could to keep Rowe with us here on earth after his birth.

As their community here in Canada, we're hoping to provide them with some financial aid to help with any current and upcoming costs as they navigate grief and begin to heal. We'd like to provide relief for costs associated with Rowe's final resting place, as well as any support services the couple may seek postpartum. More importantly, we'd like to provide them with peace of mind over the next while by helping to ease living expenses as Jamie does not qualify for maternity leave in Australia after losing her job in 2020 due to Covid. Our wish is for them to have the space and time they need to heal.

Jamie is currently in lockdown in Melbourne, pumping her milk to donate to other babies, recovering from her emergency c-section, and trying to make sense of what has happened. It’s been a tough road for Jamie and Brett who’ve been through years of infertility, one round of IVF, and surgeries before spontaneously falling pregnant with Rowe at the end of 2020.

Their pregnancy was uneventful and enjoyable until 26 weeks when Jamie presented at the ED due to a decrease in movement. After an exploratory ultrasound, baby Rowe was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect (critical aortic stenosis) which caused scarring to his left ventricle and regurgitation back through the mitral valve. Brett and Jamie remained hopeful that there were options for surgical intervention once he was born and received several opinions from some of Australia’s best cardiologists and pediatric surgeons. Sadly, as he grew bigger, he grew more unwell and the couple were faced with some truly heartbreaking realities.