Alright, now before I get to the point I'm going to beat around the bush here for a few minutes. But being a 'parent' has been the most rewarding to me in more ways than I can ever count. For all of you that have children that read this, you know what I'm talking about, and for all of you that don't have any, start fornicating! Seriously though, someone that I work with and one of the most genuinely nice people that I have ever met needs our help.
Erica Maniotis was born to be a mother however 7 years ago she was diagnosed with infertility. After years of trying to become pregnant and copious amounts of money and medical procedures later the seemingly implausible became a reality. Erica was pregnant with twins and couldn't have been more happy. 13 weeks into her pregnancy the ultrasound technicians had to give her some heart-breaking news. She had lost Twin B. Although horrible, Erica trudged on knowing she still had another little bundle of joy cooking in the oven that she had to be strong for. Bad news continued to pile up for the next 10+ weeks until she gave birth at 24 weeks. For those of my readers' that don't know, it's 40 weeks for a pregnancy and anything before 30 weeks is highly dangerous and the rate of survival is minimal.
Erica's son, Mikey Jr was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome, but he was a soldier, and would not go quietly into the night. He fought for every breath he took for an excruciating 48 days until the massive amount of health problems could not be overcame. Mikey Jr. was lost from this world on October 14th 2009 and Erica's hopes and dreams had been thwarted once again by mother nature. Not just by mother nature, the doctor's have informed Erica she will never be able to carry a baby again.
Now, Erica's sister-in-law has given her the highly-coveted "second chance at life". She has offered to be her surrogate. This would seem to be the solution for all of Erica's problems until the issue of payment arose. While paying all of the bills that had accrued from her pregnancy with Mikey, she has to come up with 25,000 dollars for the surrogacy to take place. This is where I need your help BOTNers.
I have never been more heartbroken for one person. If you are like me you are wondering what you can do to help. Well there's a couple things:
- On January 30th 2010, at the Polish Club in Newmarket, NH there will be a fundraiser including dinner, a silent auction, drinks, and dancing. To put this into perspective the kind of magnitude of this situation, Dustin Pedroia has donated a few things for this cause. As a lot of you know he also gave birth to a now healthy premature baby boy. But Dustin has donated a few autographed items for the auction, among gift cards and an array of different items. The drinks will be available via cash bar (always a fan favorite). The Music will be provided by Mike Guyre who offered his services free of charge for this event. 21 and Over though folks.
- If you can't make it to the Polish Club, and you still want to help out, don't fret! Erica has set up a website to try and obtain her goal. Here's the link http://www.giveforward.org/miracleshappen/
I know that with the economy being the way it is, people don't have a lot of money to spend. But if you have 10 dollars, 5 dollars, even 1 dollar that you can spare, PLEASE help out Erica and Mike. There are not two more deserving people in this world for the gift of life, and if you can help or attend I'd love to see you there. If you want to talk baseball, talk parenthood, or just shootin' the breeze. That's where I'll be and I want to see ALL of you there! If you need any directions to the Polish Club or any other information…PLEASE email me at ryan.norton@cision.com , facebook me, or twitter.com/bottomofthe9 is where you can get in touch with me…Erica needs your help.
Stay Tuned
Ryan
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