Trinity.Melinda.Adams: December 2009

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In honor of our precious daughter, since her passing, we do the "Angel Trinity Christmas" every December. Whether it's money donations or toy donations, we give 100% of the donations made to the precious children in the hospital. We will continue this tradition in hopes that Trinity's spirit of giving will touch sick kids and people in the community every year.

To participate in the "Angel Trinity Christmas", please email us at adamsfamily97@yahoo.com and we will add you to the updates. Thank you for keeping Trinity alive and remembered in your heart, especially when it comes to participating in this special tradition.

Love always,
Barrett and Melinda Adams
Proud parents to Angel Trinity

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Fundraiser goal is half way there!!!

We have currently raised just over $2600!!! We are almost halfway there!!! Our goal is to raise $6000 for the snoezlen room project at the Children's Recovery Center (CRC). We have also decided to continue this fundraiser through February. It's hard to raise what we need in such a short period of time during the month of December. Everyone is so busy with Christmas being around the corner.

The restaurant I work at, Macaronni Grill, plans to do a big fundraiser for this cause in February..."Give from the heart" type of fundraiser. My mom and I have even discussed putting together a family fun Run/Walk in Gilroy to raise more money. Other ideas to raise money that you could do on an individual basis would be to get rid of stuff and do a garage sale. Make baked goods and sell them. I'm even trying to get a local Catholic School to authorize a "Dress Down" day (no uniforms) and every student who wants to dress down donates $5. These are just some ideas. A donation of $5 can go a long way, and the more people we tell, the more chances we have to raise our goal amount. Remember 100% of all donations are going to CRC for this snoezlen room.

A snoezlen room is a multi-sensory development room for chronically ill children. I have a video explaining more about a snoezlen room on this blog. Go check it out. This room is exactly what the children at CRC need.

To Donate:
1. Direct Deposit: Chase Savings Account #098-670612-8
2. Paypal account: Barrett Adams (I've set up this account, but I can't find an account number...does anyone know how Paypal works?)
3. Send Check or Money order made out to "Angel Trinity Christmas":
The Adams Family
242 Charles Avenue
Manteca, CA 95336

Any questions, please leave comments on this blog or email us at adamsfamily97@yahoo.com. For those of you who've already donated, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!!! Thank you for helping us with this special cause in Honor of our precious Angel in Heaven...Trinity Melinda Adams.

Trinity's Story

Trinity was born at Stanford Children's Hospital (LPCH) with a severe heart defect called Hypo-plastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). This heart defect is fatal if it is not corrected by a 3-stage surgery process or a heart transplant. We chose the 3-stage surgery in hope for Trinity to survive.

At 36 hours old, Trinity was wheeled into the O.R. for her 1st open heart surgery. Right before surgery, we found out from Trinity's surgeon, Dr. Frank Hanley, that Trinity's small birth size changed her previously better odds of 80% chance, to a 20% chance of survival.

At 1 week old, Trinity went into Cardiac arrest. Dr. Pirooz and Dr. Pettigrew massaged her heart for close to 4 hours before she was put on the ECMO bypass machine (which lived for her for 5 days).

After 3 open heart surgeries, 3 cardiac arrests, numerous infections, numerous lung collapse episodes, 8 bronchoscopey's, 3 cardiac cathiderizations, 72 hour kidney failure, 3 failed attempts of getting her off the ventilator, tracheostomey surgery, gastric tube surgery, and 7 long emotional months of hard dedicated work from the staff in the hospital, Trinity was discharged on Sept. 9, 2002 and brought home for the first time in her short life. After being home for about 4 months, Dec. 31, 2002 Trinity went back into the PICU for 2 months fighting phenomnia. She was transfered to Children's Recovery Center (CRC) on March 4, 2003.

Sept. 9 2003, being 19 months old Trinity's lungs were strong enough to come off the ventilator. After having a trach for 22 months, May 6, 2004 Trinity's trach was taken out. After 14 months of living at CRC, Trinity was dischraged and brought home on Friday, May 14, 2004...exactly 27 month and 1 day old, and the "Healthiest" she's ever been.

As of June 2002, Trinity was the smallest surviving HLHS child that Dr. Hanley had ever done. In fact, he did not know of a smaller surviving HLHS child in the world. Trinity spent 3 1/2 years at home with us and just thrived. Her little life was filled with so much happiness and love.

At 5 1/2 years old, Trinity went through her 4th open heart surgery on Thursday August 30, 2007 at LPCH. Being unable to recover from open heart surgery, our precious Trinity Melinda Adams passed away on Sunday Sept. 16, 2007. Our hearts are broken and tears continue to fall. We are honored and saddened to have our precious daughter, Trinity Melinda Adams, be our beautiful guardian angel. Trinity we love you dearly, we miss you so much, and we will be re-united as we are a family Together Forever!