Please help baby Alex and his family.

On September 15th, Jenna and Paul left for Oahu for 2 weeks to celebrate their baby moon and enjoy some rest before the holidays. Jenna was 22 weeks pregnant and had been cleared by her doctor only the day before. They had ensured that their insurance coverage and health benefits were in order out of an abundance of caution but were expecting only a restful, beautiful trip.

9 days into their trip, while on a sunset catamaran sailing, Jenna experienced a preterm premature rupture of the membranes and was rushed to Queens Hospital Labour & Delivery. Once it was confirmed that her water had broken, Jenna was put on IV antibiotics, magnesium and steroid shots before being transferred to Kapiolani Medical Centre for Women & Children that same night. Jenna spent the next 3 weeks hospitalised at Kapiolani. The hope was to take a private medevac back to Canada but they were advised against it by their care team.

On October 16th, at only 27w+1d, Jenna and Paul welcomed their tiny little boy Alex, weighing only 730gram(1lb9oz). Dad was able to cut the umbilical cord before baby was rushed off to the NICU to be put on a ventilator and have a central line inserted to get him nutrition, antibiotics and surfactant to help his lungs develop. Two days later, Jenna was discharged from Kapiolani and moved into a room at Ronald McDonald House in Honolulu.

On October 23rd, Jenna and Paul were finally able to hold their baby boy for the first time. While doing skin to skin, Alex's intubation tube dislodged and the resuscitation team was rushed in to help him breathe. Following this incident, Alex was switched over to Nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) with nasal prongs. He began to slowly gain weight but due to the high pressure from the ventilator, his tummy became distended and he suffered pulmonary hypertension.

During these stressful early days, watching their baby fight to survive and grown, Jenna and Paul began the daunting task of arranging first Alex's US birth certificate and SSN and then applying for his Canadian Citizenship.

When it rains, it pours. Only 13 days after Alex was born, Jenna and Paul were sent a letter from their insurance company to advise them that their lifetime policy maximum of $250K had been exceeded. The travel policy that they had acquired for this trip would also not cover Alex as he had not been alive and on the policy at the time of travel.

During what are the most vulnerable, beautiful, emotional and worrisome days of any new parents' lives, Jenna and Paul couldn't even focus on their baby boy and his battle, but were having to handle struggles that would knock many of us to our knees on our strongest days.

On December 9th, after 8 weeks in the NICU in Honolulu, Jenna and Paul were able to arrange a medevac back to Canada. They arrived at YVR to an ambulance waiting to transfer Alex to the NICU at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.

Alex continues to slowly gain weight ( 1,800g as of Dec. 21) and has shown what a fighter he is. Jenna and Paul are hoping to have their little man at home with them by January 14th, his due date.

Instead of being at home with her boy and resting and recovering from child birth, Jenna is having to take transit for over an hour and a half every day just to be with him. Paul drives out when he finishes work. The emotional, mental and physical toll can't even be measured, but all 3 of them are showing every single day how strong they are and are working to get their boy home.

Living apart when they should be at home, together, enjoying their newborn as a family has been heartbreaking for this family especially as the holidays approach. Expenses are high and have added another burden to their already difficult circumstances. Thankfully, medical costs now that they are back in Canada are covered but Jenna and Paul still have their hospital bill from Hawaii and the expense of living away from home and work for so many months. Please share what you can to ease this tremendous burden and help this family focus on getting their baby boy home.