Main fundraiser photo

Newborn in the ICU

Donation protected

UPDATE...
We wanted to extend a huge Thank You to everyone for helping us quickly surpass our goal!  It is truly amazing how much love and goodness there is in the world if you surround yourself with good people.

Since everyone went so above and beyond the call of duty, allowing us to raise way more money than we ever expected, Kelly and I setup a meeting with the director of the NICU department at our hospital to help us figure out how to best use the extra funds beyond the gifts we have planned for Samuel & Carmen .  We have decided to apply the surplus of money to the department's internal fund that is setup to support mothers of NICU babies who can not afford to care for their newborn babies the same way we can. Some of these mothers do not have the funds to buy a stroller to take their newborns home, and some do not even have the funds to visit their sick newborns in the hospital. 

Thank you to everyone for your awesomeness!
We love you!
Chris, Kelly & Dillon :-D

========================================


HOW IT BEGAN…

As many of our friends and family already know, our newborn, Dillon, born on Monday 12/12/2016 @ 9:05pmEST, and seemed perfectly healthy and happy.  Two days later, and only one hour before we were going to leave the hospital to take Dillon home with us, he started crying uncontrollably.  Luckily, Dillon's mother, Kelly, and Dillon's nurse, Christine, realized that this behavioral change wasn't something to ignore or take lightly. 

Dillon had quickly developed a fever, and then was rushed to the ICU for newborns (NICU) at NY Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical.  Within only 3-4 hours Dillon was diagnosed with an infection in his spinal fluid, which turned out to be meningitis caused by the e.coli bacteria. The bacteria had quickly spread throughout Dillon's body and into his brain, causing his brain to swell inside of his tiny head. This then led to a horrible domino effect of discomforts for Dillon, and a crushing heartbreak for our family.

If you are interested in Dillon's full story, then you can access it via his CaringBridge website:
Dillon's full story on CaringBridge
http://www.CaringBridge.com/visit/DillonBoon


WHY WE CREATED THIS PAGE...

The reason we setup this GoFundMe campaign is not actually for Dillon, or our family, but instead it’s for the baby next to us in the ICU, Carmen.
 
Carmen was born 2.5 months early, and will remain in the hospital until well after the holiday season passes and everyone around you has opened their last Christmas or Hunakkah gift.  Since we spend so much time in the hospital with Dillon, Kelly and I have become quite friendly with Carmens' father, Samuel, since he also spends every day in the hospital sitting by his baby’s side. 

Samuel is always the first parent to arrive at the ICU every morning after commuting over an hour by train to see his baby, and the last parent to leave every night before spending another hour commuting home.  Samuel is an easy-going, loving person, who smiles 24/7 even though he has been dealt a few tough hands, including a 2016 holiday season of watching his little girl spend every minute of her life in the ICU.  But Samuel is not stranger to hardship.  After getting to know Samuel better, we found out that Samuel used to be homeless, living in a shelter just to survive.  Since then, Samuel has been able to get up onto his feet and currently lives in a studio apartment in the Bronx. But Samuel never forgets where he came from as he invites other homeless people into his home to help them get back onto their feet as he once did.  

This past Saturday we bought Samuel a cup of coffee from the cafeteria since the free coffee that the hospital provides to ICU visitors is not available on weekends.  The very next day, as soon as we arrived at the ICU, Samuel approached us and asked if he could buy us a cup of coffee to return the favor, even though a quick peak at the wallet that he held in his left hand revealed that Samuel probably only had a few single dollar bills to get him through the day.  Samuel is the one parent that Kelly and I can count on seeing every day, with a smile on his face, whenever we arrive at the ICU to see our little baby boy, Dillon.


WHAT WE CAN DO…
Each room in the ICU is equipped with a high-end baby rocker offering a multitude of movements to relax and rock a baby to sleep. These rockers are very effective since newborns in the ICU are all born with stressful discomforts that they can not overcome on their own, and since no two cases in the ICU are exactly alike. 

Kelly and I are lucky enough to have good jobs at good companies to afford one of these rockers for Dillon.  We are asking for your help here so we can buy one of these rockers for Samuel so that he can also comfort his baby daughter once Carmen is health enough to leave the hospital.

We are only looking for small donations (ie. $10, $20, $30, etc.) from each of you to help us get to our goal of $500 total by January 1, 2017.
 
The $500 will be spent in the following manner:
-  $300 for Samuel’s rocker
-  $100 for the various blankets, toys or other items to accompany the rocker since all related items are sold separately
-  $100 for a gift-card so that Samuel can afford to taxi ride home with Carmen, and her new rocker once Carmen is healthy enough to leave the hospital

Thank you for taking the time to read our post, and thank you in advance for making any donation you can.

We hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday together!

We love you all,
Chris, Kelly & Dillon Boon


NOTE:  I have attached pictures and videos of Dillon in the ICU instead of Carmen since we are not allowed to take pictures of any babies other than our own, and Samuel is unaware that we are doing this so I can't get pictures of Carmen to post.

NOTE
:  These rockers are not easy to find, but I found five online and already purchased two of them on my credit-card so that we didn’t miss our chance of reserving both units.  The donations we collect will be used to pay off the 50% of my credit-card bill that was used to pay for Samuel’s rocker, purchase the gift-card for Samuel's taxi ride home after being discharged, and to purchase the other rocker related items that are sold separately.

NOTE:  Many of you have asked about sending me, Kelly and Dillon gifts in the hospital (ie. flowers, balloons, food, etc.).  We greatly appreciate all of the support, and would like to simply ask that you make a small donation here instead so that we can share the happiness of bringing a healthy baby home with our neighbors in the ICU, Samuel & Carmen. 

Thank so much everyone! 
    :-)


PS:  Any money we raise beyond the $500 initial ask will be used to buy Carmen a wearable foot monitor (it's like a sock with electronic sensors in it) so Samuel can monitor Carmen's heartrate, oxygen levels, blood-pressure, respiratory rate and body temperature after leaving the hospital.  If there is any money leftover after that, then we will plan/purchase a Christmas Dinner for the parents and staff here at the hospital who will be celebrating Christmas day with us and our little Dillon.

Donations 

  • Dara Giammalva
    • $10 
    • 7 yrs

Organizer

Christopher Lee Boon
Organizer
New York, NY

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