For the Love of MaKayla
Eight-month-old MaKayla coos and wiggles in the arms of her father, Richard, as her mother, Lauren, watches lovingly and in complete awe as her daughter begins a journey of recovery. This past March, MaKayla received a liver transplant when the parents of a healthy 2-year-old boy who was killed in an accident four states away decided to donate their son's organ.
"I'm so grateful that they made what had to be the hardest decision of their lives," said Lauren in a recent article in the Vallejo Times-Herald, the local media of their hometown. "Their decision saved my child's life, but, also, their child continues living in a way, through mine."
The dire situation that led Lauren and Richard to the House began last year when baby MaKayla was diagnosed with a choledochal cyst while still in her mother's womb. Although the cyst was removed when MaKayla was born in August 2011, complications from that surgery led to her developing billiary atresia causing little MaKayla's liver to start deteriorating quickly. Lauren and Richard were faced with a prognosis that unless MaKayla received a liver transplant, she would only have a few months to survive.
"I have pictures of her old liver and it was literally black and green," said Lauren. "It looked like someone who was 90 years old and drank every day of his life." Faced with insurmountable medical bills of approximately $3.2 million not including the transplant or special food, Lauren, a certified nursing assistant who is on an extended leave of absence, and Richard who has taken on various jobs in order to also care for their three other children ranging from ages 2 to 5, continue to endure those hardships but with determined spirits and strong optimism.
For now, their daughter's healing is on the top shelf for both Lauren and Richard who found camaraderie and comfort from being at the House.
"I don't know what we would do without Ronald McDonald House," said Lauren. "I don't feel judged here and it's awesome that you can meet other parents who have similar stories so you don't feel alone. It makes you feel better, it makes you feel stronger."
To Makayla
A Letter from Lauren to Makayla (from November 2011)As I sit and watch scarcely at the pain that you're in, I am praying it is soon the worst will come to an end. Watching you cry at every poke, touch, each turn and prod, I am feeling as your protector I have failed at my job. I want to hold you forever, and trade places with your pain. While you are constantly being bothered from the sharp sounds from your monitor, I wish I could just whisk you away.
I will hold you in my heart until I can hold you in my arms. These times are not forever we are in this together, my little one. I'll show you, life is more great. Life can be much more fun. Through these times of hurts, and aches, preparations and operations, we must keep faith that you will receive healing. And any moment that I am away, I will continue to pray that you can become stronger tomorrow if I can be strong for you today.
Fast forward far ahead to much better times, to a healthy and safe place. God has a special plan for you, you will see I am sure, that there are reasons for all of this dismay you have had to endure. You, are so strong and have yet to even know it, while I sit here feeling so weak but for you, I cannot show it. I must continue having faith, since there is not much more that I can do, but I will continue fighting by your side until the end of this with you. I wish I could steal each one of your tears and toss them up into the sky, where they would dissolve into stars for a greater lit chapter in your life, I want you to know I will remain by your side, speak as your voice and stay close to you each night.
