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Our little Angelina who was a specialized child went to heaven on May 25, 2013. To honor her memory, my wife and I became licensed foster parents for specialized kids on December of 2013, and began fostering children with medical disabilities in January 2014. The funds is to be use to buy off our home from the estate who currently owns the property and is due to be put on sale to cover for my daughters medical expenses. We are foster parents and we cannot afford to take out a mortgage. Please help us keep our angel's memory alive, by making a small contribution and helping us spread our fundraiser to your family and friends.
Our Story...
For those who knew Angelina, she was a miracle baby. To us she was an
angel sent from heaven. For sure, she was an inspiration to all of us.
Angelina lived with many medical complexities, and doctors assured she
would not live long. However, Angelina always overcame all obstacles;
to the point that her doctors were amazed on how determined she was to
live. We learned to be patient, to have faith, to approach each
obstacle with serenity, to never give up faith. Angelina fought for
her life and gave us 9 wonderful years, but left us the knowledge,
understanding and the love to care for those with medical needs.
Angelina was born at 32 weeks gestation period on March 29th,
2004 at 15:00 hours. She was born with hydrocephalus, respiratory
distress, a single kidney, a left abdominal hernia and Gastro
Esophageal Reflux Decease (GERD). She was immediately intubated and
taken to Children's Memorial Hospital. Consequent to her diagnosis of
hydrocephalus, on April 4th, 2004, a Ventricular Peritoneal (VP) shunt
was placed in her head to relieve the intracranial pressure caused
from the cerebral spinal fluid not draining from her brain to the
spinal cord. After a long stay in the hospital, Angelina was sent home
in August 2004 with oxygen, a pulse oxy-meter to measure her blood
oxygen, a feeding tube that went through her nose going down to her
tummy, and a feeding pump machine.
During her 1st year of life, Angelina grew strong and overcame
many obstacles. She began taking little amount of pureed food by mouth
without chocking or aspirating it. She was able to hold her head up,
say a few words, recognize people and interact with her sister. The
next step was to repair her left abdominal hernia to help her develop
and meet her milestone of walking, crawling and sitting without any support.
In June of 2005 her hernia was repaired, and a few days later
Angelina suffered a massive brain injury due to the malfunction of her
VP shunt. Massive amount of fluid accumulated in her small head,
depriving her brain from oxygen and becoming swollen. A part of her
brain stem also suffered damage which caused Angelina to stop
breathing on her own. She was placed in a life support portable
ventilator to do the breathing for her; therefore, Angelina’s heart
was kept beating strong on its own.
After several month of being in the hospital, we went through
an intensive training to learn how to take care of her at home. We
learned how to troubleshoot her ventilator for any problems since it
was Angelina’s source of life support. We also learned how to suction
her, how to give her manual breath in the event the ventilator failed,
how to assess her breathing, determine what type of intervention to
use if she was congested, how to prepare her pump feeding, how to
monitor her fluid output to save the only kidney she had left, and how
to regulate her body temperature.
Angelina went home after Thanksgiving Day of 2005 with a
portable ventilator, and her state of mind was in a semi vegetated
state. My wife, our children and I had to learn to live our lives in a
different way, always on guard with the question of “what if?” I
changed my work schedule and my wife stopped working to take care of
our daughter Angelina. My wife was working a few hours a day as a baby
sitter just to help with the financial needs of the home. Angelina
received home nursing care for us to be able to sleep at night and be
able to work in the morning. We got her homebound therapy to get her
strong and with hopes that she could someday be able to communicate
with us.
The medical expenses were quickly getting very high. In order
to continue providing the medical, home nursing care and medical
equipment in our home, in 2010 an OBRA 93 estate was created for
Angelina. Soon after, a home was purchased and modified to
accommodate Angelina’s special needs; the front room was set up for
her therapies. We obtained the equipment for her occupational and
physical therapies to be provided at home during the cold days. Our
new home helped us give Angelina the space she needed for her
therapies and a better quality of life.
Angelina gained strength and was able to do little things that
might have seemed insignificant to others, but to us, it was the
world, it was a huge stepping stone for her. She was not able to talk
or make a sound, but with her eyes and facial expressions, we learned
how to communicate with her and able to assist with her needs.
Doctors told us that she was not going to live more than 1 year
after her brain injury, but she gave us 9 wonderful years of her life.
On May 25th, 2013 at 9:25 am without a notice Angelina went to heaven.
Her mission was complete… A couple of months before Angelina’s death
my wife and I were discussing and contemplating the idea to foster
children. I told my wife that it was a great idea and that we needed
to find out more about the process, since Angelina needed to be cared
for. The idea stayed in the back burner and it did not materialize.
In September of 2013 I was viewing Angelina’s pictures and
reading some poems from her funeral service. I came across a verse of
a poem that struck me, “
Now that I’m gone, remember me by giving to others what you want
to give to me”. The verse made me think back of what
my wife and I had discussed months ago regarding fostering children.
At that point we both decided to foster children; therefore, began
taking the classes necessary to become licensed foster parents. This
was accomplished In December of 2013; however, we were not sure if we
wanted to take medically involved children.
Maybe it was fate, maybe it wasn’t, but we received a call about a 4
year old girl who had been in the system since November of 2013. She
was failing to thrive and had a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, a history
of seizures, GERD, essentially non-verbal and delays in fine and gross
motor skills. My wife and I looked at each other and commented to the
social worker that we were hoping for a child that was not medically
involved since we had just lost our daughter. However, my wife and I
thought about it and realized that we have experience taking
care children with disabilities and if we didn't do it, then who
would? We told the social worker that we would visit the little girl
and see if we were prepared to take care of her.
When we visited we saw a restless little girl with involuntary
out of control movements of her limbs. When she noticed us, she went
to a peaceful resting state, did not move a muscle, and gave us a
beautiful smile, it felt like she was expecting us. My wife and I
approached her and held her in our arms. She stared at us and smiled,
then put her arms around our neck and fell asleep. Needless to say,
she stole our hearts.
We completed the required 30 hours of training to learn to take
care of her. At the end of January of 2014 we took her home. Since our
home is equipped for children with special needs, our foster child is
benefiting from it and has made great gains. She has better muscle
tone, better control, she is thriving, gaining weight, she is always
smiling, and most important she is receiving lots of TLC. On February
14, 2014 we took in her 2 year old sister. She has adjusted very well
and is enjoying her sister's company.
Now, because the house was purchased under the OBRA 93 estate
funds, Our home will be put for sale to cover for Angelina’s nursing
care and medical equipment that the state’s medical insurance had
covered. My wife and I work modified schedules and short hours to be
able to take care of our children and foster children. We are not able
afford to buy the house from the OBRA 93 estate. We are now asking for
your support and generosity to save our home, so we can continue
providing the special quality care in Angelina’s home for our current
and future special needs foster children. We want to give them what
they deserve "LOVE" and "CARE". Without your help
it will not be possible. In this home is where many memories were
created and our wish is to continue giving hope for those in need.
Foster Parents who are trained in caring for special needs
children are hard to find; consequently, many DCFS special needs
children end up in transitional care home-like settings where there
are many children with different conditions being cared for in a 1:3
nurse to patient ratio. This type of setting is acceptable for an
immediate emergency placement; however, every child deserves to be
cared for in a loving home with a loving family where children feel
accepted, loved and nurtured.
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