As the World Mourns Robin Williams…. A Must Read…

As the world mourns the death of Robin Williams a man who made everyone smile and laugh, I can’t help but remember the first time I saw Robin Williams on TV. The first time I saw him was in the episodes of Mork and Mindy, it was one of my favorites to watch. But then seeing him in Mrs Doubtfire was hilarious. Who would have thought unless you were that close to him that he was suffering from such a deep depression that he would take his own life. A man who was wealthy, had fame and family, but the one thing he was missing was happiness despite all that was surrounding him. Depression is an illness that if left untreated, as you see here and in many other celebrities can be deadly. But you also see it amongst the average person.

Today I want to reach out to every one of my readers. I want to tell you about why The Gift of Life is so important and really touches many. As you know I had a premature baby, the least thing that I wanted to do was to talk or see anyone. I wanted to bury my head under the covers and blame God and everything that caused me stress thinking that is why my baby was born early. But it was thanks to prayers from a friend that I met at a previous job and her persistence in tracking me down that I managed to get a hold of myself. She messaged everyone, on my then small friends list, until she reached my sister-in-law in NJ. She sent her a message to have me call her( I was not taking any calls or messages). I was depressed. But this friend’s message to me was, not hi how are you, what can I do for you, are you okay? No her message was firm, direct and powerful. She said, ” you will first of all not ignore my calls, you will take pictures daily of that baby, you will have faith and not lose hope and when you do, you will look back at the pictures to see where your baby was and how he progressed.” Those words stayed with me, forever.

You may be saying why am I sharing this story with you, simply put because I was there. I know what these moms and dads feel after having a premature baby. They are scared, they are stressed over the baby’s health, they have bills to pay, they are thinking and wondering how are they ever going to pay their bill of probably over 2 million plus dollars ( if they have insurance and it does not max out, it will help some), some have other children at home to care for, some have jobs and one or the other quits the job or worse gets terminated. They get terminated all because the employer does not understand that medical appts and time with that baby are crucial to his or her survival, so they end up getting forced out of a job due to medical appts and some even face divorce and separation from so much stress. What happens, some go into unresolved depression and some thankfully get treatment but some may not.

As you read about Robin Williams, someone who has money and abilities to seek the care of any doctors and medications and he was not able to . Somewhere before he went through it, it was missed. This is why The Gift of Life is trying to raise resources to help the NICU( Neonatal Intesnive care Unit) we are not psychologists or mental health workers, but a simple hug, a simple word of I care, I understand, you can lean on me when you need to, will go a long way when you are feeling the pain of depression. Naturally if medical intervention is needed, that is the ultimate recommendation.

Help us help the Gift of Life so that parents can have a resource to turn to, don’t wait until it affects you or a friend, act now as a random act of kindness get involved.

If you can’t attend the event on September 13, 2014 at the Rosen Centre at 5pm, you can get involved in other ways.

Purchase a Bear hand-made by Make It Mine Personalized Embroidery. When we asked Maria and Kristin why did they want to get involved in The Gift of Life, simply stated , “We want to help the Gift of Life because we believe in the work being done to help NICU babies and would like to be a part of that work.”

They are a local mother-daughter team. They make personalized embroidered gifts for the whole family — from babies to adults, including bridal items.

This is the thermal I am selling to give to our our moms in the NICU( Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to bring milk to the babies. or the new sinch sac which is good to put in toiletries for moms staying in the Ronald Mc Donald House or Diapers and baby supplies….Order one for 20.00 for a mom in the NICU and we wil deliver it and take it their after the event with a card and YOUR name as the donor!
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