Via Instagram, I connected with a lovely person named Sarah Myers (@sarah_Myers5 on Instagram). Our pregnancies overlapped, giving us a shared bond, even though we’ve never met in person. Sarah’s beautiful daughter, Avery, was born with congenital heart disease. Born with an enlarged heart and on the transplant list, Avery’s been a patient at Nationwide Children’s Hospital since the day she was born. You can follow Avery’s journey on a Facebook page Sarah created to keep friends and family informed. It’s truly remarkable to see the quality of care Avery is receiving at Nationwide Children’s Hospital — care that is putting her on a path to being able to go home … hopefully sooner than later!
I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a baby in the NICU for that long. When I had my kiddo five months ago, it was an unusual experience, involving life flight, an emergency C-section and a 13-day NICU stay. While it seemed like forever to me at the time, 13 days is a relatively brief stay, compared to the major medical complications other babies face. But, that experience helped me truly understand the magic of a NICU and the critical importance of doctors and nurses who specialize in caring for kids.
Which brings me back to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Located less than a mile from my house, Nationwide Children’s is one of the preeminent facilities in the world. Plus, they’ll never turn a family away due to an inability to pay. Over the past couple years, thanks to a partnership with Geben Communication client, The Columbus Marathon, I’ve gotten to know the Nationwide Children’s team pretty well and continue to be impressed with everything they do. So, when they asked for my assistance with their annual giving campaign, I jumped at the opportunity to help.
Starting today, in conjunction with Giving Tuesday, we’re launching #NCHFavorites, an easy way for you to share your “favorite things” while helping raise money for Nationwide Children’s. Joining in the holiday fun is simple:
- Upload a photo of your favorite holiday things to Instagram or Twitter with with #NCHFavorites hashtag. For every photo uploaded from December 3 – December 17, Simple Bath Ohio will donate $5 to the hospital.
- After you upload your photo, you’ll receive a prompt to “claim” your photo. When you do that, Simple Bath will double their donation. So, your photo translates into $10 for the hospital!
Easy peasy, right? So, enough reading. Go upload a #NCHFavorites photo (or two!) to and help us help the families at Nationwide Children’s.