Support for Lila White - NICU Fighter

Hi everyone - This GoFundMe has been set up by Matt Hetrick and Lauren Kurtzweil for Michael, Allie and Lila White

During the late hours of Saturday, February 25th Allie and Michael welcomed Lila Marie White to the world at Naples Community Hospital in Naples, Florida, and instantly fell in love with her, holding her and loving on the new addition to their family. What started as a moment of celebration, turned into one of worry after about two hours, as Lila began showing signs of respiratory distress and rapid breathing. She was brought into the NICU as her oxygen levels dropped into the 70’s and was put on CPAP and Oxygen. Chest X-Rays showed that Lila was suffering from immature lung development, resulting in a collapsed right lung and a hole in the lung. Lila was then sedated and a chest tube was administered to pull air out of her chest cavity and allow her to breathe, heal, and gain strength.

On February 28, Lila’s oxygen levels began dropping and after stabilizing her, it was decided that in order to receive the care she needed to heal, she needed to be at a Level III NICU, and was transferred via ambulance to Golisano Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers, Florida where she is continuing to fight and heal.

As you can imagine, Allie and Michael are beside themselves as they watch their baby girl fight to survive, while also caring for their 2 year old son, Ford. The amount of time Lila is expected to be in the NICU is not clear at this time, but she has a long road ahead of her as she fights to improve. Between labor and delivery, NICU and the ambulance transport to Golisano, Allie and Michael expect to see extremely high medical bills, on top of the emotional distress this has caused them. If you have the means to help two people who have committed their lives to helping people in the Southwest Florida area - Allie as a Special Education Teacher and Michael as a Physical Therapist - I know they would be forever grateful.

Any excess funds Allie and Michael receive will be donated to help further advance the NICU system in the Naples area so families that go through similar situations will have the peace of mind that they are getting the best care for their child.

We are all praying for Lila to pull through, and we are all extremely thankful for the care of the NICU doctors, nurses, hospital staff and prayer that has surrounded Lila, Michael and Allie.