Support the Holbrook Family

Hello my name is Savanna Mancuso and I created this fundraiser to support my great friends, Jessi and Jeff Holbrook. Please read their story about growing their beautiful family.

Jessi and Jeff are proud parents to their 6 year old daughter Grace. For years, they tried to grow their family. They tried IUI many times and eventually decided to try IVF. On October 31st they had a baby girl embryo placed and 3 weeks later Jessi and Jeff found out that God blessed them with identical twins. The pregnancy was hard. The girls developed twin to twin transfusion syndrome. They were closely monitored at Johns Hopkins for an entire month before the team preformed a laser ablation to separate their placenta to provide each girl their own separate blood supply. Unfortunately, baby A (Clara) developed heart disease as a result of the TTTS. Her membranes ruptured 3 days after the surgery and Jessi spent 10 weeks admitted at West Penn Hospital growing the girls. Despite the odds, the girls made it to 33 weeks and 4 days and were born on June 4, 2023…only 2 days before Jessi’s scheduled c-section due to PPROM.

Clara Michaeline Holbrook was born at 5:43 am, 4 lbs 9 oz 17.5 inches.

Nora Angeline Holbrook was born at 5:46 am, 4 lbs 2 oz and 17 inches.

Nora had a 2 week stay in the NICU at West Penn. She was a rock star and came home only 4lbs 1 oz and is doing amazing today.

Clara was intubated and taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh where she continues to fight. Clara will be transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia soon to continue her fight. Since Clara was 10 days old, she has required bilateral chest tubes for Chylothorax, this is where the lymphatic system doesn’t drain well into the heart and the extra fluid collects in the lung space. Despite the efforts here at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, they cannot seem to get them to stop draining. CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) has state of the art lymphatic center and team that specializes in Clara’s condition. They will perform further testing and potentially offer her a solution to help her heal.

At this time, the Holbrook family does not how long they will be in Philadelphia which leaves many unknowns with work and housing. My goal is to alleviate some financial stress on Jessi and Jeff so they can focus on their 3 beautiful girls and getting Clara home.