An online fundraising campaign is underway for an Abbotsford couple whose baby had to be delivered early when the mom became critically ill with COVID-19.
The GoFundMe campaign was started Thursday (Nov. 12) in support of Dave and Gillian (Gill) McIntosh, who were expecting their second child on Nov. 25.
Gill, who works in sales at a Surrey screening equipment company, was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Nov. 6 – it’s not known how she contracted it – and was admitted to hospital a few days later when her breathing became more difficult.
By Tuesday (Nov. 10), her condition deteriorated to the point where she required a ventilator to breathe. The decision was made to deliver the couple’s baby boy by C-section that evening.
Now, the baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit at Abbotsford Regional Hospital, while Gill remains on life support. Dave and the couple’s daughter are quarantining at home.
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Corina Rochon, a longtime friend of the couple, started the GoFundMe campaign to support the family. Dave will be unable to work at his job as a machine operator for a Langley company while he cares for the baby and their three-year-old daughter until Gill is well enough to come home.
Rochon said funds raised from the campaign will go towards diapers, formula, the couple’s mortgage and other bills.
“We are all starting to realize the huge financial impact this situation has and will have on the family as Dave must stay home from his full-time job to take care of their kids,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Rochon, who works casually in the Abbotsford intensive care unit where Gill is a patient, told The Abbotsford News that it has been extremely difficult to see her good friend on a ventilator.
“I hope people start realizing that COVID is real, it is serious, and it may not affect everyone the same way, but it isn’t worth it to risk the lives and well-being of others. Gill did not deserve this,” she said.
The fundraiser can be found by searching “Please help this family” at gofund.com.
ALSO READ: Tabor Home in Abbotsford now has 48 cases of COVID-19
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