Hey, thanks for reading my blog. I don’t know why you’re here, but I do appreciate the fact that for some reason I’ve connected with you enough for you to actually be reading this today. Or maybe you just stumbled here by accident. Either way, thank you for that. Without my readers, well, I’d just be talking to myself, and if you do that too much people begin to wonder about you.
Since you’re here, I’m going to use this opportunity to ask you for a huge favor. There is a little girl in Londonderry, NH named Bella Tucker, and her family really needs our help.
Now honestly, I don’t know her and I’m pretty sure she’s never heard of me. Doesn’t matter. I’ve read her story, and I really think you should take about two minutes out of your day to read it as well. It will probably give you a greater appreciation for how good you’ve really got it.
Who Is Bella Tucker?
Bella is eight years old, a third grader at South School, and member of the Phantom Gymnastics team. She lives with her mom, step-dad, younger sister, and three older brothers. Just a happy little girl who loves nothing better than doing third-grade-girl-kind-of-stuff.
It Started with an Easter Egg Hunt
Easter Sunday 2010 was a day Bella was looking forward to because of the Easter Egg hunt with her siblings and cousins. But, later in the day she began to feel ill, and went to bed early with what her family thought was the flu.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the flu.
Bella woke up with a fever of 103 degrees, and her feet were cold. According to her stepfather they felt “dead cold, not alive cold”. He immediately brought her to the emergency room at Parkland Medical Center in Derry, NH.
She wasn’t there long when doctors told him she needed to be transferred to Children’s Hospital in Boston.
Derry is only about a 40 minute drive from Boston, less if you go by ambulance with the lights flashing and sirens blaring. Even so, doctors told her parents that wasn’t fast enough and put her on a helicopter.
When she got to Boston, her fever had hit 105.8. I can’t even imagine that. I’ve had salmonella that brought on a fever of 103, and I’ve never felt worse. Of course, now I feel like a big baby.
The Diagnosis
After a couple of days, doctors discovered that Bella had Streptococcus Pneumonia Sepsis with DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation). Like me, you’ve probably got no idea what the hell that is. We should be thankful that we have never had a reason to know. Bella’s family wishes they didn’t.
Survival rate for Streptococcus Pneumonia Sepsis with DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation) is about 10% and the doctors didn’t give much hope for Bella.
Somehow though, after five days in a coma, this little 8 year-old gymnast beat the odds and survived. Unfortunately, the infection wasn’t through with her. Remember those cold feet? The infection had stopped the flow of oxygen to her extremities and caused such severe tissue damage in her limbs, that she would need to undergo a quadruple amputation.
Let that sink in for a minute.
As a dad with 7 & 4 year-old daughters, I cannot imagine having the strength to explain that to one of them.
Doctors amputated her right arm up to her elbow, her left arm up to her mid-bicep, and both legs. This little gymnast can no longer hold her mom’s hand.
Her New Life
It’s going to be months before little Bella can go home. She’ll need more surgery and months of rehab. During this time her mother will need to be with her 24/7, while her stepfather cares for the other four kids. This means mom won’t be able to work, and the kids will need daycare so their stepfather can continue to work to pay the bills. Unfortunately for them, most of their close family lives in California.
Insurance has covered most of the medical costs so far, but they are going to need to make extensive alterations to their house to accommodate for Bella when she is finally able to return home. Losing her mother’s salary will make that extremely difficult, and they’ve already used up a significant portion of their savings.
If you’ve read my blog at all, you know I don’t normally do this sort of thing, but today I’m going to ask you to help Bella out. And that means donating some money if you have the means.
Again, I don’t know them. They don’t know me. But I guess I look at that picture of Bella and see my own daughters. If something like this ever happened to one of them, I’d be thankful for anything anyone did to help, and that includes strangers with a blog asking other strangers for money.
So, if you can help, thanks. I don’t care how much you give, and I’m sure Bella’s family will appreciate anything you can do.
Just go to BellaTucker.org. You can either mail a check or donate directly using Paypal.
Hey, if enough people just donate ten bucks each, it could make a big difference to a little 8 year-old girl whose life has been turned upside down.
After you do that, please go hug your kids and realize how good things are.
As always, comments are welcomed below.
Thanks,
Dave
Dave Soucy is an entrepreneur, coach, trainer, motivator, husband, dad, and former fat guy. Learn more about him here.
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heart breaking! donated what I could…thanks for posting! will share this now.
heart breaking! donated what I could…thanks for posting! will share this now.
Thanks Mike. I appreciate that.
Thanks Mike. I appreciate that.
Ok, you got me. Donated and reposted.
Ok, you got me. Donated and reposted.
Donated and tweeted!
Thanks my friend…
Hi Dave,
I thought of my three nieces 10, 5 and 4. Hard not to get water in the eyes…
Donated what I could.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Mike. I appreciate that. Hope all is well with you.
~Dave
Thank you so much for taking time and space on your blog to share this story. It is so heartbreaking and unimaginable. While I was reading, I received a text message from my sister who was with our young nieces eating ice cream. I just started to cry. I've tweeted and posted on facebook. I will send a donation to this special family and do what I can to help them.
Thanks Jodi. It really is heartbreaking, but I believe that Bella will go on and lead a very special life. Thanks for sharing with your contacts.
~Dave
Thank you so much for taking time and space on your blog to share this story. It is so heartbreaking and unimaginable. While I was reading, I received a text message from my sister who was with our young nieces eating ice cream. I just started to cry. I've tweeted and posted on facebook. I will send a donation to this special family and do what I can to help them.
Thanks Jodi. It really is heartbreaking, but I believe that Bella will go on and lead a very special life. Thanks for sharing with your contacts.
~Dave
In God’s Garden a beautiful butterfly flew around. It’s color so vibrant it brought tears to the eyes of all who saw its majestic beauty.
One day a terrible storm came through. All the other butterflies took shelter in the trees except for Bella. The rain weighted her down and she could not hide from the cruel winds. When the storm was over Bella’s wings were damaged from the storm. She could not fly anymore.
The other butterflies came out from hiding and flew around her. Some stopped to speak with her and console her at having lost her ability to fly. Others made fun of her because she could not fly any more. Bella looked around her and saw the sun beaming through the clouds, feeling the warmth on her damaged wings and smiled.
Her very best friend flew down and landed beside her, tears welling up in her eyes. She asked “Why are you smiling Bella”?
Bella turned towards her friend “ the sun makes me feel better I feel so warm inside”. The heat was beginning to frighten her though and she began to cry. Her friend said “ It will be okay, maybe the warmth will make your wings better”.
As Bella’s wings grew warmer her friend gasped “ oh Bella the color on your wings it’s beautiful. They are getting brighter and brighter”.” Are they getting fixed” asked Bella.
Well no, said her friend, just more beautiful.
After a while more people came through the garden to see the flowers and the butterflies. They were all walking past Bella not paying a lot of attention to the butterfly that did not flit around.
Soon a little boy and his Mother walked by. His Mother talking to him about how wonderful the garden was. The Mother looked down and saw that the little boy was staring at Bella. She asked “why are you not looking at all the flowers and the beautiful butterflies flying around”.
The little boy looked up and said this butterfly is special. This is the most beautiful butterfly I have ever seen. The Mother looked a little sad because she realized the Bella could not fly. She tried to pull her son away but he insisted on sitting down beside Bella. He touched her damaged wings ever so gently.
Looking up he said to his Mother, the other butterflies fly around so quickly I cannot see their colors. This one stays here on the log and I can look at her beauty and see her colors. They make me happy.
When Bella heard what this little boy said to his Mother she realized that her ability to bring joy and love to the people who could finally see the beauty in her colors was more important than flying.
She knew that she was special. She knew that she was given a chance to bring happiness to many.
My prayers are with you.
Mandm03079, thank you very much for that comment. Beautiful.
Dave, just writing to let you know I have had the pleasure of meeting this little girl. She is currently staying at the hotel i’m employed at while their home undergoes this renovation. She is nothing short of amazing. Thank you for getting the word out. I’ll continue to do the same. Thanks again.
-Frank-
Thanks Frank. You’re fortunate for having met this little girl.
Bella you are an insperation. May you enjoy all that you have. Love you