Rayne for a reason

Though the name Rayne has worked beautifully with our many plays on words, Rayne was given the name for a far more

 precious reason.

Melissa and Matt had the name, Rayne Anne, chosen months ago.  

She would be named after her maternal grandpa, Ray and her maternal grandma, Anne.  

Say it fast and it almost sounds as if your are saying Ray and Anne.

Rayne's mother, Melissa was born to Ray and Anne Newman.  

She is the 6th child of 7 and the youngest girl. 

She was Daddy's little girl.

Ray and Melissa on Matt and Melissa's Wedding day, July 22, 2006.

Ray loved his kids dearly and worked hard for years to provide a good home.  He was very involved in the community, serving as a firefighter for over 30 years.  He was healthy, climbing all over the hills hunting with his sons (and sometimes daughters) and brothers.

Though he was really quiet about it, he began having stomach pain.  He had visited doctors but nothing was ever diagnosed.  Finally, the day after Easter, 2013, he went to the emergency room and kept pressing the doctors to do something.  

They found he had non-hogkin's lymphoma. 

 CANCER!

He began an intense Chemo treatment.  He lost his dark hair. He didn't want to become weak so on days he wasn't really sick, he would go walking, often with a friend. It was an agonizing time, but around September 1st he was told he was cancer free. 

 He had beaten cancer!

Ray with a few of his grandkids, Rayne's cousins.

It was almost like the family could take a breath now that the cancer treatments were over.  It was a false sense of security.  

Ray caught a cold, just a regular cold, but to his weakened immune system, it was deadly.  He was always the man of steel and didn't want to concern anyone.  Nobody knew how sick he was until he collapsed on an antelope hunt in Wyoming with his son, Paul, and Braden and Cassie, two of his grand-kids.  Scott and Ken, two son-in-laws, came to get him to a doctor as Paul broke camp.

He was put in the hospital with pneumonia.  He was beginning to make some forward progress, but began to get worse.  After a week in the American Fork Hospital, they transferred him to Utah Valley hospital where they could treat him more intensely. They intibated him. It wasn't enough.  

He passed away on October 5th, 2013 surrounded by many loved ones.

The parallels to Ray's ending and Rayne's beginning has not gone unrecognized by her family.  Rayne was born with almost the same problems that took her Grandpa.  She had such problems with her lungs.  She had to be placed on the ecmo life support.

Rayne has fought hard to remain here.  Grandpa Ray has been watching over his Rayne. Rayne is truly a miracle.

Please keep praying for Rayne! Please share and help us get the word out.

Thank you!

 http://www.gofundme.com/chance4rayne

A Joyful Rayne

Rayne is showing great signs of improvement!

She had an MRI and was evaluated by a neurologist last week and her brain looks great! Her brain was fully developed at birth and that helped her fight any damage.  They will monitor her through kindergarten but the neurologist was quite positive. 

Rayne is a Miracle!

A Nurse left a note explaining the gravity of Rayne's treatment and the financial weight it puts on her family.

It reads: "Rayne had a traumatic delivery that required life support for 1 week to recover.  She was critical enough that she required 2 nurses just to take care of her and her equipment.  She could not be held or even touched very much during that time.  She is lucky to recover as well as she did from all of her life saving treatments and therapies.  Although she has made great progress, she remains in the ICU as she is weaned from meds and learns to eat.  Teaching a baby to eat after being so sick is very challenging and takes time and patience.  I don't know the costs of all her treatments but I know it is HUGE!!!  The cost for fuel alone for her parents to come visit her every day is as much as a house payment every month."

Matt said that she is beginning to suck but still needs to swallow.  That is the major hurdle to getting her home.

Please keep following Rayne's journey and share it with everyone.  

We are really trying to help pay for the huge medical bills heading Matt and Melissa's way so they can keep their heads afloat and help them keep their home. 

Thank you for your support!

 http://www.gofundme.com/chance4rayne

Today's Forecast for Rayne

Rayne is making great progress!!!  On Wednesday, February 4th, the doctors were able to pull her off the blood pressure medication and the oxygen level was below 30%.  She has done awesome without it.  

On Thursday, February 5th, Melissa sent the family a text with this picture and the caption, "Holding the queen.  Anyone jealous? Lol!"  

That day, they were able to remove the portacath (the line in her chest for her medication).  Everyday there is progress with this little miracle.

On Saturday, Feb. 7th they did an Echo-cardiogram.  It will be the last she needs because her heart is looking awesome!

Look at this beautiful little girl!

Today Rayne was pulled of the high flow oxygen and is now on a regular cannula now.  She had an MRI today and we are just awaiting the results.

Please keep praying for Rayne. 

There is a GoFundMe account set up for Rayne to help pay for medical expences.  Follow the link below to donate.

 Thank you!!!

http://www.gofundme.com/legebc

Rayne Anne Ellington

On a beautiful January 9th, 2015 our world was blessed with Rayne.  This Rayne didn’t come in drops to be whisked away by windshield wipers or puddled on uneven sidewalks or streets.  This Rayne came as a gift of love, that love, puddling into our hearts.  

Matt and Melissa (Newman) Ellington, along with Zane, her two year old brother, were anxiously awaiting this/re new edition to their little family.  Melissa was due on January 17th, but wasn't overly surprised when she went into labor that Friday morning.  Rayne came quickly, and it was a blessing in disguise.

 

Rayne Anne Ellington was born around 11:43 am, weighing 7 lbs 6 oz and 19 inches long. These are pretty healthy stats for a newborn, but Rayne was already fighting for her life.  She was born with bacteroids (an infection in the placenta) and Meconium during birth (she inhaled feces).  She had weak lungs due to borderline diabetes during pregnancy and her kidneys are weak because of lack of oxygen at birth.  She also has a hole in her heart.  

Shortly after birth, the doctors decided to lifeflight her from Timpanogos  Hospital in Orem, Utah to Primary Children’s hospital in Salt Lake City.  The doctors felt it would be the best place for her in case she took a turn for the worse.  Because Melissa couldn't take the trip with her little girl, Matt was able to take the journey with her.  Neither parent was able to hold her in their arms.

That first night was rough.  Rayne struggled for every breath.  There have been several times in her little life that the oxygen they were giving her had to be at 100% and that first night was no exception.  The doctors wanted to get her levels to about 70% before they could give her a treatment.  This treatment would help her, but it would worsen her condition before it got better.  They wanted the levels at 70% so they had some room to go.  Through blessings and prayers she was able to receive the treatment.  But like the doctors said, she did get worse.  

She was back and forth for several days on her oxygen.  Every time they would re-position her, she would require more oxygen for a bit.  Melissa was able to re-position her a few times, which she was grateful for.  She still hadn't been able to hold her baby girl.  

After what seemed like slow but forward progression Rayne experienced a major setback.  On Thursday, January 15th, she was back at where she started, fighting for every breath.  Doctors decided to put her on an ecmo machine, a machine that pulls out the carbon dioxide in her blood and adds in oxygen.  They then told Matt and Melissa that if this doesn't work, they needed to plan for the worst.  Devastating!

Once she was on the ecmo, she began to improve again, but they told Matt and Melissa it would be a minimum of 5 days before they could take her off the machine.  They still hadn't been able to hold her.

One week later, they were able to remove her from the ecmo machine.  She has continued to make steady progress.

Finally, on Monday, January 26th, after two and a half weeks, Melissa was able to hold sweet Rayne in her arms.  She has also been able to feed her.  

A week after she was removed from the ecmo, they were able to remove the breathing tube.  Now she just has a nose piece for oxygen delivery and now Melissa is able to hold her whenever she wants.  

She still has a ways to go.  Her care at Primary Children’s Hospital is expensive and their insurance will fall short in covering the costs.  Please help us help Melissa and Matt for a “Chance 4 Rayne”.

 http://www.gofundme.com/legebc