Help bring baby Maia home

I’m starting this Go Fund Me fundraiser on behalf of Shannon, Julian and their families in the hope of raising funds to assist in any way with baby Maia’s rising medical bills and this is their story….

Who knew that one misstep could change our lives so drastically?

In March 2019, we made the life changing decision to move lock stock and barrel together with our four dogs from South Africa to Cuenca Ecuador, to teach English at a non-profit organization (NPO). 

We very quickly fell in love with the country along with its rich history and culture and decided to settle down and start a family.  In November we heard the great news that we were pregnant and that the baby would be born mid-July.  We began researching, planning and preparing the next nine months of our lives and decided on a natural birth at a birthing centre in the city of Cuenca.

Everything was going according to plan and Maia was meeting all of her milestones at each checkup. That was until late afternoon on Sunday June 6th when Shannon had a nasty fall, 36 weeks into the pregnancy.

By Tuesday afternoon Shannon was in such excruciating pain that we rushed to her Doctor, where she spent 2 nights under close observation. Unfortunately, the pain just got worse! The impact of the fall had caused significant complications that worsened daily.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Shannon’s pain had become so unbearable that an emergency c-section was performed, resulting in beautiful baby Maia being born a month early.

As a result of being premature (Maia’s lungs were unable to develop fully during the crucial last 4 weeks  of the pregnancy) and due to complications caused by the fall, Maia was rushed to Hospital San Juan de Dios to be put on a ventilator and receive life-saving treatment in the only Neo-natal Intensive Care facility in the city that had available space and equipment to help her. Maia is currently in an incubator, still being cared for in this ICU facility and until she is strong enough to be able to breathe on her own.  Our plight starts here.

Unfortunately, due to some miscommunication between the NPO and the medical insurance brokers, we only discovered after the birth that Maia’s costs would not be covered by the medical aid when she was born, as there is a 90-day waiting period for each additional member.

We are currently sitting with an overall bill of US$7000, which is expected to rise to at least US$10 000 over the next few days. As we both work for an NPO and only receive a stipend we had planned for a normal birth without complications. Things have however turned out very differently, so what should be a very happy experience for us has turned into an extremely stressful, scary and trying time, as we simply cannot afford to cover the unexpected additional costs on our own now.

In addition, Shannon is currently still recovering in a different hospital from the complications caused by her fall, with her own set of medical bills which should hopefully be covered in full by medical aid. Mom has not been able to see or hold her daughter other than for 10 minutes after birth.

Whilst we are very appreciative of the help we have received so far from all of our family and friends, the continuing strict shutdown in South Africa caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an extremely poor exchange rate, has proven difficult for their monetary assistance to make a dent in Maia’s medical bills.

It is commonly said that it takes a village to raise a child and this is all the more true in times of strife. This is why we would like to ask you to help us bring our beautiful baby Maia home so that we can start life together as a family.  Any support will be greatly appreciated.

Shannon, Julian and Maia