there when you need it
When Kristen Dunne needed a way to share her daughter Molly’s health updates, she was grateful she already knew about CaringBridge.
Molly collapsed on her first day of kindergarten. Kristen set up the site soon after visitors started showing up at the hospital. “I told the story a time or two,” Kristen says. “I thought, ‘I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep saying the same things over and over again.’ But I wanted people to know what was happening. It was a way to get the word out to people.”
Molly has a rare genetic disorder that led to a cardiac arrest. She was transferred from A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. It was there their community began using the slogan “I believe in Molly” to rally around her.
connection with a community of support
CaringBridge became a way to share Molly’s story with their community across the distance. “It was a way that I could still communicate with everyone back home and they could support us,” Kristen says.
And support poured in from all over. Kristen gathered strength from the many guestbook messages and tribute donations. “I can’t believe there are that many donations,” she says. “It blows my mind. I think it’s amazing that people feel like they want to contribute and want to have something in honor of Molly.”
making each day count
While Molly’s health journey continues a year and a half later, Kristen still feels uplifted by the messages of love and support shared through CaringBridge.
Kristen says, “Even all this time later, people are still interested and they’re still following Molly’s story. They say, ‘We just came to say we’re thinking of Molly.’ It’s pretty amazing.”
In a recent journal entry, Kristen wrote, “All I can say is we take each day as it comes, we try to make each day count, give Molly as much goodness as we can each day […] Through it all, she is strong, determined, smiling and happy.”
related information
- Donate Online and make a difference in the lives of CaringBridge families.
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- Start a Site or Start a SupportPlanner.