Hailey Kent - Please Read

This story has touched my heart, and I wanted to share it with everyone who may not have already heard...

http://thehaileykentbenefitfund.blogspot.com/

Hailey's Story

Rick and Maria Kent are the proud parents through Gestational Surrogacy of Ryan and Hailey, that turned 2 years old today. When Hailey was 15 weeks old she was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of Leukemia. She went through chemo, but relapsed while still on it and had an unrelated, mis-matched umbilical cord blood transplant in May 2007. She is home now on home isolation but is having issues with graft versus host disease (where your body and the donor cells try to reject each other). Lately it has been getting worse and is starting to affect her kidneys.The best chance for Hailey to be cured is for her parents to do another Surrogacy, and have a baby who will be a 100% match for Hailey. There is a new technology available where doctors can identify the matching embryos before they are implanted. One out of every four embryos will be a match. Hailey's doctors at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles said it's too early to talk about a second transplant, but chances of a relapse are high. If that happens, stem cells could be taken from the baby's preserved umbilical cord blood, and Hailey could get a transplant and a second chance. Rick and Maria are looking forward to welcoming another much loved child into their family as well as being able to save Hailey's life. Unfortunately, Maria and Rick are financially tapped out from the first Journey and from paying the medical bills for Hailey. There is no way they can afford to pay for another Surrogacy Journey. We estimate that $15,000.00 is the amount we should have to complete this journey to save Hailey. At this moment there is $1422.00 in the Hailey Kent Benefit Fund. We are still in need of donations. It doesn't matter if it's big or small, every little bit helps! We have to get moving on this. If Hailey has a relapse she won't have time to wait for a sibling to be born.

Info on how to donate to the Hailey Kent Benefit Fund:

To donate by check:

Wells Fargo Bank
2740 Cochran St.
Simi Valley, CA 93065

The check can be made to either Maria Kent or Hailey Kent, and in the memo line please write: Hailey Kent Benefit Fund.

By Paypal:
http://www.paypal.com/. The email address is: benefitfundforhailey@yahoo.com.

Thank you!

News Articles & Coverage

News coverage:
http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=4890238&version=1&locale=EN-US

Newspaper article:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jun/01/giving-birth-to-save-a-life/  

Other Ways to Help

~Organize an event to raise money. (i.e.: bake sale, garage sale, car wash, walk-a-thon, etc.)

~Help in contacting anyone that has connections with pharmaceutical reps or companies, so we can get donated meds. We are going to need Follistim (or Gonal-F), Menopur (or Repronex or Bravelle), E2, progesterone, and Lupron for the surrogacy journey.

~Help in contacting anyone with media connections. The media is interested, but want to follow the journey as it progresses. That won't help get the word out that we need help raising funds NOW so we can get the journey started.

Every little bit helps!