Prayers and Help for the Payne Family

A post from Summer's Blog...if you can help in any way at all...

"My heart feels heavy for a mother out there that I met 9 years ago. Her name is Joy Payne. I always thought it was funny that her name was an oxymoron. But at this time, she does not feel the joy, only the pain. One of my dear friends (who is best friends with Joy) wrote this:

"Our best friends Tom and Joy Payne just had their 3rd child, Easton, who is now 3 months old. He was born with dwarfism, a mild case of Pierre Robin syndrome (where the lower jaw is too small and the tongue blocks the throat), and a cleft soft palette (which also causes airway obstruction). This baby has a tracheostomy and a feeding tube in his stomach. They feed him every 3 hours around the clock and must suction out the tracheostomy when he spits up—which is almost constantly. You can imagine that with this challenge, they get zero sleep. They are up around the clock managing him. At the time he was born they also had two other children to take care of.

This, of course, turned their lives upside down. They have been working with the state to be approved for 24-hour nursing care. This will not take effect until the middle of November, they are told.

However, to add to the trial that they are facing, when Easton was 11 weeks old, their 3-year old son Jaxon drowned.

They now face the overwhelming costs associated with her hospitalization from the pre-term birth of Easton, his immense medical bills, AND the ambulance, life-flight, hospital and burial costs from Jaxon’s death. …Along with the horrible pain, grief and guilt that comes with losing a child this way…

Their insurance covers no nursing costs. 4 days after the funeral of Jaxon, they woke in the night ready for one of Easton’s feedings as his emergency alarms started sounding. He was not breathing and had no pulse—Tom, his father had to revive him by doing infant chest compressions and CPR into the hole in his throat.

They cannot keep living this way until the red tape clears for their nursing care to kick in. Being this physically exhausted is extremely detrimental to their emotional healing and they are terrified that “another child will die on our watch”.

We’re asking for any donations you can give so that this family can pay for a night nurse for the next month until the state care begins. Prices can range from $3,000-5,000. We’d also like to help them cover all the other medical and funeral bills that are piling up. Please give whatever you can to this amazing family. They have been through so much hardship, and it tears us up to not be able to give them whatever money they need. PLEASE HELP US LIFT THEIR BURDEN SLIGHTLY AND GIVE THEM HOPE. Thank you."

I cannot imagine losing a son, and simultaneously trying to care for a newborn with such health concerns. I just cannot imagine the pain. It is tiresome enough to have a newborn. I am at a loss. So, I decided to throw together a quick kit called "Easton" in hopes of raising some money to help this amazing family. Please say prayers for them. And if you feel that you can donate some money, please feel free to do so using my donate button. I will accept donations until one week from now (Sunday, October 17th). When you donate through PayPal, please leave a note that says "Easton" so that I know that's what it's for.   Thank you!"

Visit Summer's Blog to donate and download her free digital scrapbook kit.

Here is a picture of sweet Easton:


And here is a picture of Joy and her family. The little boy, Jaxon, is the one who they lost from the drowning:


Summer's Free Digi Kit...