Briar Dorothy Pulcipher Foundation

Briar Dorothy Pulcipher was born into the world 7 weeks early and premature.  She is a strong little baby girl who needed to stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for nine days and undergo a couple scary, but not uncommon, treatments to help make her stonger.  They were not fun, but she was able to fight through them.  We kept our heads held up to God and prayed.

She made headlines around the world by crashing her parents wedding!  We are hoping to raise some money for the ACTA2 genetic Research being done to prevent aortic dissections in our family and others.  

Briar will need expensive genetic testing as she has a 50% chance of having this genetic mutation, which causes strokes and dissections in the aorta or premature death.  We also want to use some of it to start a foundation for Briar so that as she grows she will have a small stepping stone into her future, or God forbid, need it for medical purposes.  If you would like to help, please share this post, or if you are moved, by giving a small donation today.


What is an Aortic Dissection?

The John Ritter Foundation

Their Vision:  A well-informed public empowered to participate in their own aortic health and prevention of premature deaths due to acute aortic dissections through research.


10% of anything raised will be used to donate to the John Ritter Foundation in Your Name & Briar's.  The remaining will be put into a savings/mutual fund for Briar's future.




We would also like to take this blessed opportunity to raise awareness for how serious Aortic Dissections and the ACTA2 gene mutation is around the world.  Her father and Grandmother both have a mutation in their ACTA2 gene, which causes roughly 35% of dissections in men.

Aortic dissection is a serious condition in which there is a tear in the wall of the major artery carrying blood out of the heart (aorta).  As the tear extends along the wall of the aorta, blood can flow in between the layers of the blood vessel wall (dissection).  ACTA2 muation is a connective tissue disorder.  Assied from dissections, it can lead to other major complications besides dissections such as strokes, or complications for women during child birth.

John (Briar's father) is disabled from a near-death experience of a dissection in 2011, which caused a rupture just past the arch of the heart, which then tore all the way down through his organs and into his right thigh.  He is heavily medicated to prolong surgury until it is direly needed as it is very risky procedure with many consequences.

A dissection of the aorta occurs when there is too much pressure on the walls of the aorta and the layers of tissue shear and rip apart, causing bleeding into areas of the body it should not.  Many, many times, this results in death.  It killed John Ritter and Lucille Ball just to name a few.  Many times it requires immediate surgury to repair and that is if the patient makes it to the hospital. Dissections both physically and mentally affect patients for the rest of their lives.

It is unknown at this time whether or not Briar has the ACTA2 mutation.  We trust God will take care of her, and us either way!!



Briar's Headlines, different pictures, interviews, and video of July 29, 2017 when she entered the world on her parent's wedding day seven weeks early:

http://people.com/human-interest/couple-hospital-wedding-daughter-born/

http://upnorthlive.com/news/local/couple-gets-married-in-hospital-five-hours-after-bride-gives-birth

http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/24816-couple-has-a-baby-and-gets-married-on-the-same-day

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4759628/Woman-weds-hospital-FIVE-hours-giving-birth.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/parents-wed-hospital-hours-baby-arrives-scheduled-wedding/story?id=49009421

http://www.icepop.com/wedding-bride-labor/

https://www.thebump.com/news/bride-gets-married-after-giving-birth

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mom-gets-married-5-hours-after-giving-birth-like-its-no-big-deal_us_598c82dbe4b0449ed508706e 

https://www.romper.com/p/this-couple-got-married-right-after-their-child-was-born-it-will-melt-you-74664

https://www.babble.com/parenting/jael-pulcipher-birth-wedding/




Thank you All!!!!

Love,

Jael and John