Support for the Pollema Family

8/28 Update from Alex's Family:

After several days of encouraging progress, Alex suddenly and unexpectedly passed away yesterday (August 27). It was later determined he suffered from a pulmonary embolism.

Thank you for giving our family time and space to grieve the profound and inconceivable loss of our beloved Alex. As plans for a memorial service materialize, we will post details here. Your love and prayers continue to give us solace. If you wish to further support Andrea, Margo, Lucy, and Hugo, please consider a donation to help ease the burden as they find their new path forward.

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Dear Friends,

As many of you know, the Pollema family was recovering from the premature/emergency arrival of baby Hugo in June and just beginning to live life as a family of five. Alex is now severely ill and in a medically induced coma while doctors work to determine what is causing this sudden illness.

Alex's Story

Alex arrived at the UW emergency on Thursday, August 8th. On Friday (8/9), he was admitted to the UW Trauma and Life Support Unit (TLC) to treat meningitis, where he was intubated and placed in a medically induced coma.

By Sunday (8/11), Alex’s condition worsened, and there was significant and rapid brain swelling. On Sunday morning, the care team placed a shunt in Alex’s brain to relieve the pressure, and he was transferred to the Neurological Critical Care Unit. At this time the care team could not determine the cause of Alex’s illness. Their treatment plan was to assume that it was viral meningitis with an exaggerated immune response. Alex is still receiving treatment in this unit and has an amazing, talented, and dedicated care team around him.

For ongoing medical updates, please visit https://www.caringbridge.org/site/89e83b34-59c5-11ef-b685-d50986a80695.

As you can imagine, the family would greatly appreciate your financial contributions that will support medical costs and care, childcare needs, and groceries.

We would be most grateful if you could share https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-the-pollema-family on social media. The more support we can generate for our dear friends, the better.

Please know that each and every dollar, meal, gift card and sharing of this post on social media that you do to support the Pollema family is tremendously impactful.

Thank you so very much for your support.