Urgent Funds To Save Newborn

Aim

Julie and EJ's baby son was born early at 34 weeks but is suffering from internal bleeding. We need immediate help to save his life.

Updated Thursday 9th December

Since my original post the baby has been born early at 34 weeks via emergency C-section. 

He is unfortunately in a very bad way... 

The baby is bleeding internally. 

Without a transfer to a special baby ICU as quickly as possible he may not make it. 

Please help this defenceless baby and his kind and selfless parents. They deserve our help.

See a video from EJ himself at this address:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TbK1WRnugZR3cRUhayY7DFrBZfL-F-jh/view?usp=drivesdk

Update 2nd December

I passed the first lot of donations on to.the family and got the electricity supply turned back on. Thanks to all those that helped. 

Original Post

My name is Paul and I live in Brighton.

I've launched this Crowdfunder page to raise funds for my friends Julie and EJ.

They are shortly expecting their third child.

But there is a problem...

The local doctor has informed them that the baby is breeched.

Without a planned Caesarian section operation both Julie and the baby are in real danger.

Julie and EJ live in The Philippines just outside Manila.

I've known them for several years since they did some freelance work for me.

They're married and already have two kids, Elijah and Elisha. Here's a picture of the family at their nephew's recent birthday party.

About Julie & EJ

EJ is a recovered alcoholic of 13 years abstinence who is now a Christian minister. He tends a congregation of around 600 people, providing hope and support to his entire community in desperate times.

He spends a great deal of time and money helping others but this doesn't allow for much in the way of cash savings.

Julie still does freelance work and I've known her to work 14-15hrs a day, 7 days a week.

I have heard first hand how hard it is trying to make ends meet in a corrupt country with little in the way of public welfare.

They're very careful with their money and live in poverty, along with virtually everyone in their neighbourhood.

They live in a converted windowless stock room behind Julie's father's store. Every time it rains the floor washes 3-4 inches deep with fouled stormwater containing raw sewage.

Life is desperately hard even in normal times.

Covid has destroyed their earnings. Lockdowns have meant that their household income has dropped by over 60% since last April.

Therefore, the news that they need to spend around $2,200 in US dollars (around £1,700) on an emergency C-section is catastrophic news.

I doubt their entire street could raise this much money.

To make matters worse they are already destitute without the cost of operation.

I've learned today they have a £250 electricity bill unpaid for 3 months that has caused the supplier to cut off their supply. EJ has less than £3 to his name.

The family are now facing all of these issues while trying to raise two small children in a powerless, windowless room in 35 degree heat.

I have helped Julie and EJ a lot myself. I bought them a car last year to allow EJ to start a rice delivery business and bought him £1,000 of stock to help him get started.

However it didn't show enough profit to sustain them and first the stock money dripped away and I finally told him to sell the vehicle to help them a few months ago.

I've just sent them some more money and have been sending them enough money each week for food, but there's no way I can afford to pay for this operation on top of the money I've already spent. 

I have two children of my own under 3 here at home and money is just too tight.

Please help me fund this operation to ensure the family remain safe.

I'm not asking for much here. Just a little help getting my friends through this episode. They are the most lovely people you could imagine and do not deserve to be living like this.

In this day and age, nobody should be living like this

This is not a selfish and indisciplined couple who have carelessly had a child they can't afford.

Elijah and Elisha are the sweetest kids you could imagine who speak good English and regularly send me video messages thanking me for stuff. Julie and EJ have bent over backwards and gone hungry to ensure their kids are schooled, fed and clothed on several occasions. Both kids want to be doctors.

Please don't also think I've been pulled in by a scam of some sort and might be pulling you into it. They have never asked me for a thing except advice. I am no fool and actually an extremely sceptical and suspicious person who would never give anything away without being totally sure of those I was helping.

These people are 100% legitimate and worthy of support.

Any help you can give me would be so gratefully received. I will continue to send money to them as best I can to help feed them and get their electricity turned on.

The amount of £2,640 I am seeking to raise for the family is the sum of the C-Section operation cost, travel to and from the airport for a few days and to clear their outstanding bills such as the electricity in full.

At the very least this should enable the baby to be born safely and come home to an inhabitable building.

Even £2 buys a big bag of rice that keeps the family fed for the best part of a week. 

I've never done anything like this in my life before and I wish I had the money spare to just give it to them. Because I would.

There are so many people out there that by clubbing together we can help make the most massive differences for.

It is my honour to present this family's situation to you all and sincerely hope you can help.

If we could exceed the target of course any extra funds would be passed onto the family and help their ongoing situation immensely.

If you require any clarification, explanation or even contact details for the family then I am sure they would be only too happy to speak to you.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas :)

This project successfully funded on 29th December 2021