Thought I would let you know that Benson's story will be shared on the Jackie and Bender show during their 2 day radiothon to support Seattle Children's Hospital. You can tune into 106.1 on the radio, listen online or download the "i heart radio" app to your smartphone. Here is a link to the event if you're not familiar.
http://www.kissfmseattle.com/pages/one_big_kiss/for_seattle_childrens.html
I will be speaking at approximately 8:15 on Wednesday morning but the fundraiser begins Tuesday morning. Below is the email I sent them and they've asked us to come share our story on the radio.
I love this quote from Anne Frank "no one has ever become poor by giving."
We are fortunate to have SCH in our backyard. Seattle Children's Hospital helped save Benson's life!
A story that might bring in donations...
Dear Jackie and Bender,
I WILL NEVER FORGET a few years back when I made my first donation to SCH when listening to one of your emotional stories on the radio. I was on my way home from work and had to pull into a parking lot to make the call.
Fast forward to 2012
I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER the day I was driving into see my baby at SCH, my husband Erik had stayed the night with our son in his hospital room, and heard Bender state the number of children occupying the hospital at that time. My son was one of those children. You said if you have a healthy child at home hug them because you just never know. My eyes swelled and throat tightened. You are correct, not in a million years would I have thought that my son would spend the first 6 1/2 months of his life in the hospital. Gut wrenching to this day to think about his first several months of life!
Here is our story...
Benson Borgen was born almost four months early due to an unexpected placenta abruption. He weighed one pound seven ounces and was intubated immediately due to respiratory arrest. He spent the first four months of his life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UW Medical Center where we experienced the emotional rollercoaster of a micro-preemie. As we approached the end of December, near his original due date, he finally was making "good" progress and had transitioned from a ventilator to CPAP. Soon after we celebrated this huge milestone one of the worst case scenarios happened: he became sick with RSV. To any healthy human this type of cold is not a major deal, but any baby born with chronic lung disease and a weakened immune system is life threatening. Unfortunately what happened next is still a clear memory. Benson got progressively worse - all that slow progress he made toward becoming strong enough to breathe on his own was not enough. On January 3rd Benson was intubated again, and during the procedure (my husband and I watching), we almost lost him. I can still remember looking through the glass window seeing the numbers on the monitor drop and drop. Thankfully Benson survived, but he was in a critical state, and beyond the capabilities of the UW NICU. I am forever grateful to the SCH transport team. It took them over two hours to transfer him from the UW isolette to the transport isollette. Every time they touched Benson his stats dropped and they had to back off. The preciseness, interaction with us and courage they took to transport Benson from UW to SCH is still mind blowing even though it is only a mile away. Fortunately Benson's hospital stay has a happy ending. I realize this is not the case for all families. Benson spent several more weeks in the NICU at SCH then spent several more weeks on the main floor. Our happiest day came on March 20th, 2012 when Benson made his journey home. Since then we've eliminated oxygen and a variety of medications. He still has a feeding tube but thankfully this is something he will outgrow. We are grateful to the staff at UW and SCH for helping our son make it home.
Oh and one other important piece to mention is Benson was born on September 11, 2011. Yes, our miracle baby brings hope and faith to so many that view 9/11 as a sad day.
If my son's story can inspire someone to donate then please share. Fortunately we had incredible insurance therefore money was never an issue. However, adding that stress would have made for an even more unpleasant experience.
Whether I hear from you or not please know you can count on my donation this year! Thank you for making this fundraiser an amazing success year after year. My husband and I walked the halls at SCH numerous times passing your plaques with the monumental donations. Congrats!
Sincerely,
Breanna, Erik and Benson Borgen
