Dear Friends and Family,
I am writing on behalf of my entire family to let you know about an endowment we have started at Texas Children’s Hospital on behalf of our little girl, Olivia Grace.
Olivia was born almost 3 weeks ago. During Leslie’s pregnancy, we found out that she was growing slower than most babies and were referred to a series of specialists associated with Texas Children’s Hospital. As a result of those visits, we learned that Olivia really looked like a normal baby, just smaller and with a few issues that we’d need to look into after she was born. Because of these recommendations, Leslie and I opted for Olivia to be born via C-section so that we could have all of the right people there to take care of her in the event that they were needed.
So the big day came! Olivia was born July 20, 2009 at 12:40PM and weighed in at 3 pounds, 11 ounces. That’s when the staff at Texas Children’s started to amaze us with their knowledge and expertise. Right away, a neonatology team whisked Olivia to a prepared area to be evaluated. She had a blockage in her airway and had to have that cleared out. After that, she met her mommy and went to the Neonatal ICU at Texas Children’s. That was Miracle #1 performed for us by Texas Children’s.
Since then Olivia has been watched 24x7 by the great staff at Texas Children’s. Leslie and I have been amazed over and over by their expertise, but even more by how much they truly care about the children they are taking care of.
Olivia’s first few days in the NICU were trying for the entire family, but mostly for her. During that time she essentially had her entire body imaged and evaluated by doctors at Texas Children’s. Among the tests that were performed were: complete blood work, an MRI of her head, an ultrasound of her head, an ultrasound of her heart, an echocardiogram of her heart, an ultrasound of her abdomen, x-rays of her lungs, and complete sequencing of her genes (and chromosomes). So that’s the major stuff, and suffice it to say that a lot of other “minor” work was also performed. In addition, Texas Children’s sequenced our genes, for free. We consider the availability of all of these tests to help little Olivia Miracle #2 in her journey.
Leslie and I and all of our family members were literally beside ourselves as we waited for ALL of these tests to come back. These were literally the worst moments of our lives, as the doctors told us that there was a chance that Olivia had a life threatening condition that she most likely wouldn’t survive from. So we waited, and cried, and waited, and cried, and prayed, and prayed, and cried, and prayed, and prayed, and waited, and cried, and waited. Then, one by one, the tests came back, all positive for us! Of course, minor issues were found, but nothing life threatening in any way and nothing that we can’t manage (I’ll spare the details in this letter, but we’re happy to talk about it). We have nothing but positive things to say about the way the staff at Texas Children’s conducted themselves throughout this ordeal. Like I said before, they did an amazing job with all the medical stuff, but they also cared for us in such a compassionate way. For example, when we heard that Olivia’s condition was not what they originally thought, and thus was not life threatening, just about every one of the Texas Children’s staff was crying as we were crying. I’ll take that and call it Miracle #3.
Since then, little Olivia has been spending her time under the watchful eye of the nurses and doctors responsible for her care and doing the things that little babies do – mostly sleeping, some eating, lots of pooping and a little fussing at her mom and dad. The important thing is that she’s improving every day and hopefully coming home soon!
She’s our little sweetheart, or “sweet pea” as I call her, and she literally wouldn’t be here with us today without Texas Children’s.
We realize that having Olivia in our lives is a miracle and that we wouldn’t have her without all of the care we’ve received at Texas Children’s. That’s why we set up a charitable endowment on behalf of Olivia in hopes that we can, in some small way, help Texas Children’s work the same miracles for other families. The Stevens family is proud to announce Olivia’s endowment, officially named “The Olivia Grace Stevens Endowed Fund in Neonatology.”
Our goal is to contribute the fund’s initial value on our own over the next few years, but we hope that you might consider making a contribution as well. We’ve been blessed and helped by so many people through acts of kindness and prayer on our behalf, and now we hope that we can help others with this endowment. If you are interested in making a donation, you have two options, both of which are easy and tax deductible. Either way, please be sure to reference “The Olivia Grace Stevens Endowed Fund in Neonatology” in the check’s memo line, in an attached note, or in the comments online. The first option is to send a check to our endowment’s administrator, Geri Jacobs, the Director of Planned Giving at Texas Children’s. Geri’s address is as follows:
Texas Children’s Hospital
ATTN: Geri Jacobs, Director of Planned Giving
1919 S. Braeswood MC 4-4483
Houston, TX 77030-4412
The second option is to make a donation via Texas Children’s website, http://www.texaschildrens.org/. If you choose this option, click on “Ways to Give” at the top right of the website. From there you can choose how you’d like to make your gift, but again please be sure to reference “The Olivia Grace Stevens Endowed Fund in Neonatology.” If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us--we’ll be glad to help!
Please know that none of this money will go towards Olivia’s care, which has already been taken care of. We just want the endowment to help other families in the future!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this note. We hope that you’ll seriously consider making a gift, no matter how large or small, to help future families and children through difficult times. Olivia literally would not be here with us today without Texas Children’s Hospital, and we’re so glad to have her fussing at us!
We love you all! -- Chad and Leslie --
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