Please consider donating here to help reunite mother Carole and baby Marie-Ange with their family under one roof
ONTARIO (LifeSiteNews) – A mother of 9 and her youngest child have been forced to live apart from the rest of their family because of medical complications that left the girl brain-damaged before birth.
In 2018, when baby Marie-Ange was still in the womb, doctors discovered that she was in the footling breech position, a delivery position in which the baby’s feet come out first, bringing the possibility of dangerous complications. Thus, parents Marc and Carole made sure to be in the hospital in September, well before the delivery date, to give Marie-Ange the best chance of getting any necessary medical assistance, because the family home is in a remote part of Ontario.
Unexpectedly, Carole suffered a ruptured uterus, which led to Marie-Ange being deprived of oxygen in the womb and suffering significant brain damage. The rupture also gave Carole a life-threatening haemorrhage.
Since recovering from her injuries, Carole has been caring for Marie-Ange away from the family home, in a secondary rented space which can accommodate the baby’s enhanced needs, something that cannot yet be achieved in their antiquated, rural farmhouse.
The family are trying to fund an addition to their home in order to properly care for Marie-Ange there and reunite the entire family under the same roof. To this end, the family has launched a LifeFunder campaign to help raise the necessary funds for the building of a place on their property that will serve baby Marie-Ange’s needs.
The family’s campaign page notes that “the family’s small rural house had been chosen to fulfil the older siblings’ decade-old dream of living the pioneer life with gardening, herding sheep, and beekeeping. Many years of study and hard work were invested in making this dream a reality; now all of this is in jeopardy.”
The campaign explains that the house is currently unsuitable for the nursing care needed around the clock for the family’s littlest sister: “Marie-Ange’s conditions require a temperature-stable environment that is impossible to achieve in a century old home heated by a wood stove. A move was considered, but in the current market, meeting this family’s housing needs would be beyond the means of their single income.”
As a result of her condition, Marie-Ange requires special care, needing 14 to 16 hours of attention every day. Carole has been the primary provider of this care, becoming Marie-Ange’s full-time nurse during the three years since her birth, meaning she has essentially lived away from her husband and eight other children.
The Ontario provincial health plan provides for 66 nursing hours a week. However, due to the COVID-19 crisis, finding trained nursing staff is very challenging in their region. Often many shifts remain unstaffed, forcing the family to step in to help so that Carole can get a few hours of much needed rest.
“Help us fund a modest addition to their home that would provide temperature stability and the room needed for nursing staff to provide for this child’s life-sustaining care day and night,” the campaign reads.
“Marie-Ange is nearly 3 years old; it is time for her to be with her family to facilitate her care and enable a better, fuller quality of life for all.”
“Having the required space for her daughter at home would allow Carole to be more present to her other 8 children and greatly relieve the stress of separation.”
Please prayerfully consider helping to bring this little girl and her mother home to their family by donating here.