Support Ty's Healing Journey with Kindness

Juliana Howell is organizing this fundraiser.

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I'd like to introduce you all to my Goddaughter Tyler, but we call her Ty! I am starting this GoFundMe on behalf of my dear friend Kayla. Ty is a 15-month-old baby girl who was immediately put into state custody the moment she was born. Born premature at 35 weeks, weighing just over 4 lbs, Ty spent her very first month of life in the NICU. From day one, her now pre-adoptive mother, also her blood aunt, has been there since the beginning—daily NICU visits, sudden preparation to welcome a newborn home that required extra special attention and care. Not only was Kayla welcoming Ty home, but Kayla was also welcoming Ty into the lives of her 3 children. Despite being a single mother of 3, without a doubt, Kayla was set on bringing Ty home... FOREVER!!

Ty's first few months of life weren't the easiest, being a premature, colicky baby that required various medications, physical therapy, and many, many doctor's appointments. During that time with a newborn, Kayla had taken her first leave of absence from work. Unexpected but with nothing but love and dedication, Ty began to progress and grow to be the baby we all know and love today.

On August 28th, things took an unexpected turn. At around 4:30 in the morning, Kayla woke up to Ty groaning, lethargic, and with poor trunk control. After just a few minutes had passed, her motherly instincts kicked in, and she called the rescue. The first local hospital visit was filled with testing and lots of questioning. Within about 3 hours, they decided Ty needed to be transported to Hasbro for more extensive testing. While in Hasbro, Ty was taken for an MRI, EKG, and EEG. All of this testing, with the hopes of Ty just having an off day, resulted in Ty's behavior being due to a seizure. Unfortunately, with all of the testing, Ty's MRI revealed that she had a brain tumor. Based on the results, Ty's team decided it would be in her best interest to remove the brain tumor. Ty endured a 6-hour brain surgery on September 5th. After surgery, Ty remained intubated for 24 hours. Thankfully, the tumor was completely removed! After close monitoring, Ty and Kayla were discharged from the hospital on September 9th. At this point in time, Ty had a glioneuronal tumor.. currently we are awaiting genetic testing to determine more information about the tumor, if it will come back, or if critical action will need to be taken in the near future. For now, Ty is healing, and now we wait for testing to return. Just short of two weeks in the hospital, and Ty's sudden condition required Kayla to take a second sudden leave of absence from work. Since August 28th, Kayla has spent every single day with Ty, day in and day out. With her other 3 children counting on her, doing it all on her own with a now minimized income, she has taken a negative hit financially.

(This is after Ty’s sedation which started 8am 9/5 and ended around 4pm 9/6- in this photo you can view the 4” incision towards the bottom of the image starting at the crown of her head to the end of her hair line)

On behalf of Kayla, Ty, and her children, I have started this GoFundMe in hopes to alleviate some of the financial distress that has occurred over the last month or so.

We hope to take you all along the way. Every share, comment, or donation is very appreciated beyond words!