VIDEO: Community Raises over $19K for Family Whose Unborn Baby Faces Several Disorders

Friends and neighbors are offering support to a family in Angola, Indiana, whose unborn child is fighting several disorders.

“They hit us all at once and it was very, very surreal, a good couple of weeks of numb, anger, sadness,” said Seth Fifer, whose wife, Kayla, is expecting their first child, WANE reported Wednesday.

Fifer is the owner of CrossFit Angola and his wife is a physical therapy assistant. As they prepared to welcome their daughter, an ultrasound showed fluid build-up on the back of her brain.

An MRI later found the baby had three rare brain diseases, including Dandy-Walker Syndrome, Polymicrogyria, and Schizencephaly. The baby was also diagnosed with kidney dysplasia.

“They’re expecting seizures, they’re expecting potential difficulty breathing and feeding on our own,” Fifer noted. “They’re expecting somewhere around the kindergarten to preschool level of cognitive development with potential to never walk and talk on our own.”

When friend Evan Howe heard about their situation, it deeply affected him and he began thinking of ways to offer support.

“The one thing that I could do something about that, like, is a huge burden just weighing on your mind when it shouldn’t be the thing and thinking about his finances,” he noted.

Howe asked the community for assistance and several businesses set out jars to collect donations and a silent auction was scheduled to take place next week at the Brokaw Movie House.

“I just think we’re really blessed here and we have great people there are a lot of really just amazing people with big hearts in our community,” said general manager Taylor Kerner.

As of Thursday, a GoFundMe page set up for the baby has raised $19,170 of its $20,000 goal.

The community’s kindness has helped the family cope as they prepare for what lies ahead.

“It’s helped us a lot knowing that there is support through our community to just help us be there for us,” Fifer commented. “All those little things really help take our mind off it, help us get through it a little bit.”