08 Oct 20% Chance of Survival

You kept a tough little preemie’s family by her side.

Jacki enjoyed an easy pregnancy. Then, at just 28 weeks, she got a headache so severe, it nearly knocked her off her feet. Because of her job as an EMT, she had a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff at home. Jacki asked her husband Aaron to check her blood pressure. The reading was so high, she thought he’d read it wrong. He hadn’t. They rushed to the hospital. That’s where Jacki learned that she had preeclampsia, a dangerous condition that could put her baby at risk. She had to deliver right away.

“There’s nothing that can replace being able to be close to your child.”

LilyAnn entered the world via emergency cesarean section. The fragile newborn weighed less than two pounds and would have to fight for her life. This is a story about how YOU – through your gifts to Ronald McDonald House Charities® — helped LilyAnn and her family every step of the way. Jacki remembers how scary it was.

“I had never seen a baby that small,” she says. “I kept asking, ‘Is she going to live?’ They said she has around a 20% chance at life.”

LilyAnn went into neonatal intensive care. Jacki and Aaron didn’t know what to do next. Their home was too far away to travel back and forth. To make matters worse, Aaron had recently been laid off from his job. They couldn’t imagine paying for a hotel for the weeks that lay ahead.

That’s where you came in. Because you give, Jacki and Aaron had a room waiting for them right by the hospital, at Ronald McDonald House.

“They literally had everything there that we needed,” Jacki says — from a comfortable private room to a kitchen stocked with food to laundry facilities. For the next 68 days, you gave Jacki and Aaron a loving place to stay. Most importantly, you made it possible for LilyAnn to have her mom and dad by her side.

After long days at the hospital, Jacki and Aaron could come back to the House to relax and talk to other families who were in a similar situation. During such a stressful time — both emotionally and financially— Jacki says you gave them peace of mind.

Jacki will never forget what you did for her family.

She says, “There’s nothing that can replace being able to be close to your child.”

Thank you for helping families like LilyAnn’s. Will you give them the same chance to stay together? Just click the donate button to send your gift.