Journal entry by Leah Saarela —
We have been so blessed by the community that surrounded us with love and support on this journey. Warning - this is going to be a long one as we have so very much to be grateful and thankful for. As we move onto the next chapter, in our final post, we need to say a huge thank you :
- To the care team at Children’s Hospital and Children's Heart Clinic for taking such good care of Maddelyn
- To Maddelyn’s grandparents for all the prayers, encouragement, care for Abby while we were in the hospital, bringing Abby on a field trip to the hospital to visit outside and all the Dairy Queen (for Maddelyn and mom)
- To Maddelyn’s aunts and uncles for running errands, meeting us at the hospital to take and do our laundry, making posters and t-shirts to celebrate when we came home from the hospital and texting Maddelyn gifs
- To our amazing family, friends and coworkers for all the gift cards, Door Dash, care packages, balloons and stuffed animals, you are all so very generous, gave us one less thing to worry about and brought a smile to Maddelyn's face
- To our neighbors at home for bringing us Maddelyn’s favorite dinner, picking up baby shampoo and for the wonderful gifts
- To our neighbors at the cabin for mowing and taking care of the lawn while we were away for so long
- To Camp Odayin for providing virtual camp she could attend during recovery
- To Close to Home construction for swinging by and fixing our siding while we were in the hospital
- To Medtronic for the amazing paid Family Care Leave policy allowing me to focus all my energy on caring for Maddelyn
- For receiving a verse we prayed over and over again throughout our journey
- To all the prayer warriors lifting us up day and night, you brought us peace and your prayers were answered
- To everyone who decorated Maddelyn's hospital room with pictures and cards, you surrounded her with love
- To all who provided encouragement, comments, hearts, texts, and calls, we cannot thank you enough for coming alongside us and holding us up, we love you all.