Medical bills for Brooklyn and Harper

Last November Shane and Katelyn moved to Pittsburgh to start a family and buy a house.  They found out they were expecting a baby in March and shortly after in April discovered it was twins.  They purchased their first home in July and have been trying to plan for these twin girls ever since.  

During the 16 week ultrasound it was found that Brooklyn had a condition called an omphalocele.  If you don’t know what it is, it is an extremely rare condition where the intestines and sometimes parts of the liver and other organs, in her case both, grow on the outside of the body due to a defect in the abdominal wall.  This was incredibly scary and traumatic for the whole family to find out and did not know if she would be okay.  There are many other genetic and physical defects that can present themselves along with an omphalocele.  They have been tested for everything you can imagine and Brooklyn continues to be tested.  

They started the very lengthy process of testing, weekly biophysicals, non stress tests, iron infusions for Katelyn and biweekly ultrasounds and growth ultrasounds.  Constant hospital visits due to their being twins as well as Brooklyn’s condition.  Both babies being very low on the birthweight scale was a factor as well.  In October the scans indicated that Harper had elevated dopplers and as a result was causing her to grow slower and smaller than her sister.



On November 7th 2019 Katelyn and Shane went to Magee Hospital for a routine ultrasound.  During the ultrasound they were told that Harper was not breathing properly or moving well enough and the doctors told them they are having an emergency c-section right then.  The entire process was about 20 minutes and the result was two beautiful babies, Harper Quinn Rudes and Brooklyn Elizabeth Rudes.  

Brooklyn is closely monitored for her oxygen and respiratory functions which she is performing amazingly!  She has to be constantly monitored and checked for a variety of conditions and symptoms and she (and Shane & Katelyn) will be in the NICU at Children’s Hospital for at least a few weeks.  

Since both girls were delivered early, they are both underweight.  Harper was staying at Magee Hospital due to her weight and the family was split up for 5 days.  Thankfully everyone is now together at Children’s once Harper was transported over.  The 4 of them will be staying at Children’s for quite some time until the girls reach the appropriate weight, ability to eat and Brooklyn’s condition is managed enough for them to all go home.

Having twins put a larger strain on their financial situation and with the babies requiring extended hospital stays even with insurance, it only covers so much.  One is bad enough and they have been split into two different hospitals.  The medical bills they face are daunting.  Aside from the costs of food, parking and travel in and out of the hospitals every day takes a toll financially.  Katelyn will also be out of work with no pay for a few months until sometime in January.  We are asking for any support you can spare to help Shane, Katelyn and the girls get through this extremely difficult time for their family.  We want to be able to give the girls the best care and treatments and not have to focus so much on the financial side of things. 

We love all of you and we cannot wait for you all to meet Brooklyn and Harper!

Thank you!