NewsRadio Savannah and our sponsor The Dewitt Tilton Group introduces you to the Sumrow family and their Ronald McDonald House Of The Coastal Empire experience:
Our Rainbow Baby – Declan
In August 2022, we lost our baby boy before he could experience life. Shortly after we found out we were expecting Declan “Ducky”. Our journey to having Ducky wasn’t an easy one, he is our 9th baby and loved by all. Ducky has six excited siblings at home and two siblings above who chose him for us.
It was an easy pregnancy until around week 16 when Ducky decided that he wanted to try to come early, we were able to have the labor stopped. I made it to around 21 weeks before officially being put on strict bed rest. The next few weeks were a challenging, every week we got closer and closer to his due date. I had to be admitted a few times because he kept wanting to meet his family. We grew more excited and anxious the closer it got to meeting Ducky.
On June 19th, 2023, at 32 weeks we got a surprise when sweet Declan decided to surprise us all with an early delivery. Ducky was diagnosed with ABD (apnea, bradycardia & desaturation) and PDA
(Patent ductus arteriosus). He had a feeding tube and was placed on high flow oxygen. We did not know how long we were going to be in Savannah, but we were looking to see what we could do to stay close to Ducky.
We learned about the Ronald McDonald House and quickly applied; we did not wait long before hearing back. There we made friends with other families going through similar circumstances. The staff was always asking how we were and how Ducky was doing. Ducky liked to keep everyone on their toes while in the NICU, but everyone was always reassuring and knew he would grow and go home soon.
After staying at the Ronald McDonald House for 59 days, Ducky was discharged from the hospital, and we were able to go home. He had so many other people that couldn’t wait to see him and he has been a gift for our family since we lost a son, and our other children lost a brother. Ducky has been home for few months now, healing the hearts of everyone and already has an extra special bond with one of his sisters.
We made a lot of friends from nurses at the hospital to staff at the RMH to other families going through the same heartache we were. Thank you to everyone for supporting and being there for us through Ducky’s journey.
How to help:
⏰ Accepting monetary donations between Now - December 11th, 2023
📍 Please deliver all cash, check, and gift card donations directly to iHeartMedia Savannah, 245 Alfred Street Savannah, GA 31408
💳Forms of donations accepted:
- Click here to make an online donation to the RMH. Add "Shop With A Cop" in memo.
- Checks made out to Ronald McDonald House with "Shop With A Cop" in memo.
- Visa, Master Card, AmEx or Target cards.
- Cash
Sponsored by The Dewitt Tilton Group!