I know I’ve shared and asked you to support many charities in the past, but this is one that is especially important to me. This cause involves close friends of mine, Tait and Lauren Zimmerman and their little preemie, Little Tait. Before I get to their needs, I want to share a little about their beautiful story of how they started their life together.
Tait and Lauren both come from strong, dedicated Christian families whose family purpose is to serve the Lord in all the things they do. They met each other May 26, 2006 at an American Vision conference held at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, GA where after several months, Tait and Lauren began a long distance courtship with her parents’ permission. During this time, they discussed endlessly about their views and beliefs on marriage, raising children, and their faith in the Lord mostly through phone calls and email and the occasional visits. One of the things they discussed and both agreed to was that they would do everything in their power to stay committed to staying of government welfare no matter what.
They both felt, after a 7 month courtship combined with Lauren’s parents’ blessing, that God had intended for these two remarkable people to be married. They were married May 3, 2008. After only a months of marriage, Tait and Lauren got the joyful news that they were to be expecting their first baby! Nothing could make the couple happier than having God bless their family with a little miracle early on in their marriage. Sometime in the February 4, 2009 time range is when they were anticipating their little miracle to arrive, but were surprised that when she was about six months along, to get unusual and scary contractions. Things didn’t go according to plan (as they rarely do) and this led to the premature arrival of their son, Tait Jr., on November 6, 2008.
This began the challenging and often scary three months where these first time parents had to face the struggle of bringing such a frail child into the world. He was born at 27 weeks, weighing only 2 pounds 9 ounces, and measuring 14 inches long. Because of his early entrance into this world, he couldn’t breathe on his own all the time and needed significant breathing assistance. His first three months of his life consisted of living in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital at Providence in Anchorage, AK where he was connected to several feeding and oxygen tubes, wires, leads, and IV’s.
Tait and Lauren would have to make daily 120 round trip drives in order to see their son every day to spend as much time as they could with him for the first eight weeks. Many times, they were joined by Tait’s parents and sisters who were a major support for the couple during this tumultuous time. They were lucky to finally have a small, parent room to stay in for the last five weeks of his stay at the NICU. That was another blessing in itself for the couple to not have to travel daily back and forth to be with Little Tait when he needed them most.
During Little Tait’s 3 month stay at the NICU, Tait and Lauren had to familiarize themselves with medical terms and knowledge that they never considered looking into before. They had to educate themselves to learn about the special conditions their son had to face for survival and the best way to go about each challenge that would arise. The couple looked forward to interesting milestones for their son such as when they could remove IVs, his first feeding (from a syringe through a feeding tube), higher oxygen saturations, and much more that most parents are fortunate enough not to ever have to experience.
Little Tait made his own schedule for these milestones. He took longer to progress with his breathing and master enough coordination to breathe and eat at the same time. He grew stronger every day and was reaching the milestones regardless of anyone else’s timing. A couple days after his original due date, Little Tait was able to finally come home on Little Tait came home February 6, 2009 weighing 8 pounds 15 ounces! What a remarkable, answered prayer that was!
During Little Tait’s stay at the NICU, Tait and Lauren had been approached by a social worker. They were told because their son was born with such a low birth weight, they were eligible for Medicaid. This would have covered all their bills in the hospital, Little Tait’s NICU stay, meals, lodging, transportation, and future therapies. Although it was tempting to thrust their bills to the taxpayers’ pockets, they sought counsel and decided they would stay firm on their pre-marital commitments to not to accept government welfare and search to pay the bills on their own and with any assistance that the Lord would send through private support.
The first obstacle they have to face is the is the neonatology bill. Through a professional hospital negotiator from a ministry they belong to, they managed to cut down the $186,769 neonatology bill to $51,644.35. While that is a tremendous blessing in itself, they were only given 90 days (until June 3rd) to come up with this staggering amount. If they are unable to come up with this amount by the deadline, their bill will be turned over to collections and will shoot back up to the original $186,769 amount.
The next hurdle after this is to tackle Little Tait’s hospital bill that is estimated to be $650,000, if not over $750,000 hospital bill. They are planning to negotiate that bill down too and are seeking prayers and support for this next challenge as well. They believe through God, anything is possible and know that it can be done.
The current total they’ve raised so far is $47,026 raised so far!!! What a remarkable start! Now they only need help to raise the remaining balance of $4618 within the next 7 days. If any of you can find it in your heart to donate or spread the word along, it would be greatly appreciated!
You can learn how to donate or read more about their story at Little Tait.
~Jaqueline
Guest Writer for MomDot
@ Shannon:
…and perhaps the government assistance is God’s help, it is available to help you if you accept it
I am sorry for what they are going through and I wish them the best. My daughter was born at 25 weeks, so I know what they are going through. However, I don’t see how asking for donations is better than taking Medicaid (which he should automatically qualify for). We pay the taxes, and this is one of their good uses. To help save babies. I feel more comfortable taking the Medicaid then asking people to give me their money. Everyone has their own beliefs I guess. I hope everything works out for them.
(I think God would want you to accept the help of Medicaid, etc. Perhaps that is why it was created. He would want what is best for the child I’m sure)
Shanna wrote:
Im not them, but the government just doesn’t cut a tax check for the hospital bill….
Also, I hate to point it out, but tax dollars ARE peoples “cash money”. I believe donations are much more responsible as people can CHOOSE to donate to a cause they find worthy (and also receive a deduction for their donation) rather then tax dollars of people not choosing pulled for a fund.
I can sympathize with what the Zimmermans are going through, as I have a micro-preemie (those born prior to 28 weeks and under 2 lbs). My daughter arrived 1 day shy of 25 weeks and weighed 1 lb, 1oz, and stayed in the hospital for 4 1/2 months. She was completely eligible for medicaid, but by a small miracle my insurance covered her entire medical bill. My hospital stay was mostly covered, and with the extra I have had to make payments. It’s been hard since I was laid off, but ya do what you have to do.
Because of C’s birthweight, she was eligible to receive social security benefits as long as she was in the hospital. It was only a couple of hundred dollars a month, but I accepted it. Social Security and Medicaid are not welfare for these little ones… it’s a lifeline that helped me get ready for C to come home. The bills do not stop once you’re out of the hospital… I have taken C to over 50 doctors/specialist appointments, and even with $15 copay that adds up to $750 so far. She is on a special formula that is not cheap, so yeah, the money SS sent me was needed. Still is, but she doesn’t qualify any longer (and I am glad she is healthy enough to be home and to NOT qualify!)
Long story short, SS and Medicaid are not welfare — it is assistance that is paid for by tax dollars that you have paid into. In this economy, they are not going to hand out random money to just anyone. Why set yourself up for such a big debt, and stress, so early in your litte man’s life, and in your marriage?
The way I see it, God answered your prayers by helping Tait get healthy and to come home from the hospital. He did not want you to suffer, and He sent someone to you to offer you Medical payment assistance via medicaid.
Look at it this way — do you have health insurance? If so, they should be covering most of this bill. You probably paid between $100-$500 a month for the insurance. Would you only acccept that amount back from your insurer to pay your bills? Of course not. What about auto insurance? $100 or so a month, you total your car, you’re only gonig to take back the money you have paid your insurance company. Same thing with Medicaid — you paid a certain amount of taxes, and your son is eligible. If you DON’T have insurance, you need to, for your son’s medically fragile state, to make sure he is insured. Like private insurance, Medicaid is there to help you. If you are also offered Early Intervention for your child’s development (PT, OT, etc. services), you owe it to your son to do those, as well.
I’m sorry, of course it it none of my business, and I don’t want to come across as lecturing. I’m just trying to help you see that Medicaid is NOT welfare, and in the long run it will only help your child as long as his parents aren’t constantly stressed about money, in debt, having to move, etc.
Best of luck with Little Tait, and my prayers will be with him.
I am not sure why you would choose to take donations when tax payer dollars are allotted for this exact purpose-helping those when dire circumstances occur making the paying of medical bills ridiculously impossible on your own. Your tax dollars for the rest of your life go to help those less fortunate. Why would you choose to take other peoples cash money when their taxes already go for that purpose. Just my two cents. I have 24 weekers so I have been there too.
I’m the mother to a 28 weeker, who was in the NICU for over 5 months. I can undserstand what these parents are going through.
I understand too, somewhat, why they are leaning on God and hoping something good comes to these bills are paid. I’m really not sure though why when as a parent of a preemie myself, You endure so much and still have long journey’s ahead of you why you won’t seek the Medicaid assistance, but instead worry about how the bills will be paid. We all deserve a break, its not a bad thing to have the goverment help pay. Our children are the future anyways.
Just my thoughts. Thanks for sharing though. I love seeing other preemies. If you are interested you can see my son at http://palmersf.blogspot.com
This is a beautiful story, I am glad it has a happy ending & I’ll try to post this a few places tonight or tomorrow!!