My name is Irene. Joe and Sarah are close friends of mine, Sarah being my best friend. We all met at the same place back in April 2010. Sarah is caring, fun, and supportive, Joe is an adventure seeker, and always the life of the party. In August 2010 they formally met, Joe had a get together and Sarah was my plus one. Now, in that moment, if you would have told me these two would end up falling in love I would have thought you were crazy. If you would have told me they would someday have a baby, I would have died laughing. Little did I know fate had planned so much more than that. After dating for several years, they decided to start a new life in Florida. They officially tied the knot in 2018, but something was missing.

Sharing a life with someone is a trial of will, many curveballs are thrown your way. In late 2019, Joe fell ill, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The debilitating disease has been known to consume people’s lives. Joe has been stoic when dealing with the trials of the disease. Sarah has shown him nothing but love and support. After proving that they can handle such a difficult trial together, they started thinking about that missing piece. Some couples just have to think about one another, and they become pregnant. Others need to put planning, thought, care, and lots of prayers into it. Some couples aren’t fortunate enough to have everything go “right” the first, second or even third time. There are some that should be parents, that’s Joe and Sarah. They tried and tried but were unsuccessful. There’s an old saying, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” They showed they have the will, strength, love and support of one another and can overcome most struggles that come their way. The day finally came in August 2021 that they found out that their dream was coming true. We were all overjoyed! Plans were being made, baby clothes were sorted, and the nursery was being designed. It was an overall uneventful pregnancy.

In January 2022, Sarah was referred to a maternal fetal medicine specialist by her OB "just to double check the baby's size". The specialist found that her placenta was malformed and was not providing the baby with the proper amount of nutrients. This caused the little man to be less than half the size he should have been for his gestational age. They were rushed to a local hospital, but it was not capable of caring for a baby of his size. In turn, Sarah was rushed to Lee Health Park in Fort Myers, where she was admitted and put on strict bed rest. Baby boy now needed to be monitored round the clock.

January 22nd, 2022, the doctor made the decision that baby boy was not showing any signs of improvement. The blood flow from the placenta was starting to reverse, and his heart rate began to drop. The doctors determined it was time to deliver. Sarah was rushed into an emergency c-section an hour later. Dalton James Hickey was born on January 22nd, 2022 at 2:31pm, he weighed just 12.9 ounces, and was just 9.8 inches long. Dalton is not only a preemie but a Micro Preemie. Micro Preemies at his age only have a 10% survival rate.

The Hickey family is proud to announce that little man is 1 month old and a fighter. Baby Dalton has been intubated with oxygen and a feeding tube since birth. He has already had several blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, and lots and lots of pokes and prods for tests and will need much more care as he continues to grow. With still a long journey ahead of them, the hour commute from their home in Naples to Fort Myers has not stopped them from spending time with their peanut during his NICU residency. The commute, and all additional expenses, have become an insurmountable financial challenge. As some may know there is a lot of missed work, delays on leave benefits, and recovery time from emergency surgery. Life and bills do not stop. Joe and Sarah have been getting by on Joe's income alone, and they have exhausted what little savings they had just to be by Daltons side every day. Unfortunately, this journey will not end when Dalton comes home. He will still have an undetermined amount of appointments with specialists, and will most likely need extra care for his first few months at home also. We ask for your help and support during this very difficult time.