Hi, we are here raising money to relieve the financial burden as we walk through the next year of our daughter’s life. While we are thankful for medical hands, family and friends, and a savior who walks with us through life challenges- the financial side of this situation has begun to add up.

Our daughter, KaliJo, was born with Pierre Robin Sequence. This is a spontaneous sequence that consists of a small lower mandible, a set back tongue, and cleft palate. This causes feeding and breathing troubles, due to an extremely small airway. We learned this upon birth and proceeded to visit our daughter in the NICU for the following 7 weeks. At the time, going home without our daughter was more than we could bear, and we did not think or dwell on the financial side of staying in the NICU, which has proven to be quite costly.

She had a surgery at 4 weeks old called a Mandibular Distraction, where they extended her lower jaw (mandible) and opened up her airway over 2 weeks of movement. She has grown and changed in ways we can only see as a miracle for medical intervention. She eats well, sleeps well, and plays and smiles like a normal baby. She still, however, has the metal hardware in her jaw bone and hardware visibly behind her ears. She will have a second surgery to have that hardware taken out in September. This will be a quicker turn around with just a night or two in the hospital. At around a year old, she will have a third surgery to repair her cleft palate followed by years of post surgical intervention and therapies.

Currently KaliJo has about one doctor's appointment per week to check in on different specialities she was seeing in the NICU. She goes to the regular pediatrician and sees a physical therapist twice a month to fill gaps she missed during her NICU stay (there’s not a great place for tummy time in the NICU). She also has to be admitted anytime she gets an infection of her open surgical sites, which we experienced recently resulting in a two night stay on the general peds floor at Wolfson Hospital.

The copays alone have added up to hundreds of dollars in the past few months, and the bills coming in are beginning to pile up.

While we know having a baby can be expensive, this was completely unexpected and a surprise to us at birth. We prepared for diapers, wipes, and maybe an occasional sick visit to the pediatrician, but not for this level of financial stress.

Any gifts donated will go straight towards KaliJo’s medical bills and expenses. It will begin to pay off some of the bills we have already received and as those get paid, we will save towards her next two surgeries and hospital stays.

Thank you for any and all you are able to give financially, and thank you for your prayers and support during this season of parenthood.