Amanda's Family Medical Fund
Donation protected
My beautiful sister’s name is Amanda. She is 36, married to a hardworking man, and for the past 2 years they have been trying to have a baby. After multiple miscarriages while working, she took a year off from her career in pursuit of a healthy pregnancy. In March 2017 it finally happened, she was pregnant again. For 4 months her pregnancy was normal, but her water broke at 18 weeks, a condition also known as PPROM.
PPROM carries many risks, especially when it happens so early in the pregnancy. Labor typically begins within a week, and the baby rarely survives. Even when the baby does survive, the lack of fluid makes normal organ development difficult, and both mommy and baby have a much higher risk of infection which can be fatal for both of them. To make matters worse, the baby was facing the wrong way (breach), and didn’t have enough room to turn back around. Doctors did everything they could to save my sister and her baby for 2 months, even keeping her in the hospital for 3 weeks, but on September 3rd everything changed…
On September 3rd, she began having severe pain in her lower abdomen. Doctors ran multiple scans to determine the cause of her pain, but were unsuccessful. According to her readings, she wasn’t having contractions, but there was no other explanation. They tried to give her medication for the next day and a half to prevent any contractions, but nothing worked. After another exam, they finally confirmed that not only was she in labor, but the baby had descended into the birth canal, and was on his way out.
After 36 hours of hard labor, baby Cook was born 13 weeks early at 2lbs. 2oz and 13.39 inches long via emergency caesarian, small enough to be medically considered a micro preemie. As a micro preemie, he began his life in a small incubator and continues to live there in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) He sleeps 22+ hours a day with a breathing tube, a feeding tube, an IV, 4 different sensors attached to his still developing skin, and a blood pressure cuff attached to his leg. Nurses have to prick his heels every 8 hours for bloodwork. All this is very expensive ($10,000/day), but that’s what he needs to stay alive for another 5 – 10 weeks in NICU.
We are hoping for the best outcome, but the medical bills are already astronomical, and we are limited in our ability to help my sister. My sister is the most helpful, loving, and inspiring person on this planet and we're humbly asking for your help. All funds will be used for medical bills and post-delivery baby supplies. We greatly appreciate any amount you can give.
Sincerely,
Amanda's Family
PPROM carries many risks, especially when it happens so early in the pregnancy. Labor typically begins within a week, and the baby rarely survives. Even when the baby does survive, the lack of fluid makes normal organ development difficult, and both mommy and baby have a much higher risk of infection which can be fatal for both of them. To make matters worse, the baby was facing the wrong way (breach), and didn’t have enough room to turn back around. Doctors did everything they could to save my sister and her baby for 2 months, even keeping her in the hospital for 3 weeks, but on September 3rd everything changed…
On September 3rd, she began having severe pain in her lower abdomen. Doctors ran multiple scans to determine the cause of her pain, but were unsuccessful. According to her readings, she wasn’t having contractions, but there was no other explanation. They tried to give her medication for the next day and a half to prevent any contractions, but nothing worked. After another exam, they finally confirmed that not only was she in labor, but the baby had descended into the birth canal, and was on his way out.
After 36 hours of hard labor, baby Cook was born 13 weeks early at 2lbs. 2oz and 13.39 inches long via emergency caesarian, small enough to be medically considered a micro preemie. As a micro preemie, he began his life in a small incubator and continues to live there in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) He sleeps 22+ hours a day with a breathing tube, a feeding tube, an IV, 4 different sensors attached to his still developing skin, and a blood pressure cuff attached to his leg. Nurses have to prick his heels every 8 hours for bloodwork. All this is very expensive ($10,000/day), but that’s what he needs to stay alive for another 5 – 10 weeks in NICU.
We are hoping for the best outcome, but the medical bills are already astronomical, and we are limited in our ability to help my sister. My sister is the most helpful, loving, and inspiring person on this planet and we're humbly asking for your help. All funds will be used for medical bills and post-delivery baby supplies. We greatly appreciate any amount you can give.
Sincerely,
Amanda's Family
Organizer and beneficiary
Jacklyn Sumlin
Organizer
North Las Vegas, NV
Matt Cook
Beneficiary
