Thanks for visiting my personal page. I am fundraising for Miles for Miracles because I have a strong connection to the wonderful things that Boston Children's Hospital does for children because 14 years ago, they became involved with someone very dear to my heart.
My niece and patient partner Colleen Facey. She is a beautiful, joyful, funny, and willful young lady who makes the world brighter by being a part of it. Colleen has faced many hurdles in her 14 years and Children's Hospital has been there every time. The care and encouragement they have given Colleen and the support and education that they have given my brother Jerry and sister-in-law Patty has been priceless.
During her first 9 months of life, she spent 17 days at Children's in the Pediatric ICU and on the Pulmonary Floor with RSV and pneumonia. At 10 months of age, it was discovered that she had a Type 1 Laryngeal Cleft. That's why she'd been aspirating on thin liquids which was causing all of her respiratory illnesses. It became clear that Colleen had not met many if any of the milestones that typical developing children do. Aside from respiratory, she suffered from Hypotonia (very low muscle tone), extreme farsightedness (glasses at 9 months), conductive hearing loss (tubes put in multiple times), camptodactlyly (fingers flexed), Bronchiolitis, which all led to speech and motor skill delays to name a few. Colleen began working with many therapists through Children's. With lots of hard work, she started to roll, then stand independently and by the time she was 2 1/2 she was taking her first steps. At 3, she had her Cleft repaired by Dr. Rahbar ("the Throat Whisperer!") and a few months later she was able to drink anything without the thickeners. She is now 14 years old, an eighth grader at Milton Middle School. Colleen is an amazing person, she skis, is a fish in the water, is learning horseback riding and takes hip hop dance classes as well as performing in the school musicals. It is amazing to me how much Colleen has overcome and how much she has accomplished. I am so proud to be her aunt.
Please help me help Children’s Hospital continue to provide the experts and services to the children who come from all over the world just to be able to live their lives as other children live theirs and how Colleen now lives her own.
Please support my fundraising and help the incredible kids and families at Boston Children's Hospital.