First Baptist Church of Weston
Opens Home to Michigan Family in Need
It didn’t take very long for Pastor Frank Armstrong and the First Baptist Church of Weston to answer the call for help.
A few weeks ago Pastor Armstrong received an email from the American Baptist Churches detailing a need for temporary housing and assistance for a Michigan family with an unusual request. The Werner family needed a place to stay for a few months near Boston while their almost three month old baby, Camryn, underwent surgery and an extended rehabilitation at Children’s Hospital in Boston.
Camryn was born at U of M (Mott Children’s Hospital in Michigan) on April 8, 2010 with a condition called esophageal atresia. This is a rare condition in which her esophagus is not connected to her stomach and occurs in only 1 out of every 4,500 babies.
Usually babies who are born with this condition are required to remain in the NICU until they are repaired, but the doctors allowed the family to bring Camryn home after 3 weeks. She has a feeding tube since she cannot eat by mouth, and she has a replogle, which is a tube in her mouth that goes down her throat and suctions her saliva out as she swallows.
The surgeons at UM wanted to wait until Camryn was 3 months old to operate, hoping her esophagus would grow on its own and be able to be sewn together. Since it did not grow enough, UM’s plan was to pull her stomach up to her neck and cut off her esophagus entirely.
Parents, Beth and Jeff Werner, were uncomfortable with this way of repairing her, so they began doing a great deal of research and networking and came to the realization and conclusion that they needed her to have surgery performed at Children’s Hospital in Boston.
Along with this decision came many obstacles to overcome but mainly, the family had no place to stay while in the Boston area. With all the associated medical costs of Camryn’s condition and the need for round the clock care, the family’s financial resources had been severely compromised so paying for a hotel or short term rental was out of the question. That is when they knew the needed to reach out for help.
The Werner family contacted their local church organization and requested assistance in finding a place to stay while in the Boston area.
Although still grieving the recent loss of his beloved wife, Linda, Pastor Armstrong, upon receiving the email about the Werner family, met with Church members and together decided to open his home, the church parsonage, to the Werner family. He knew that Linda would have encouraged him to help this family.
Pastor Armstrong also contacted “Angel Flight”. They are a volunteer corps of over 1,000 private pilots and "Earth Angels" who combine their love of flying with the spirit of grassroots volunteerism by flying patients and their families to the critical health care they need. They provide air transportation in private aircraft by volunteer pilots so that children and adults may access life saving medical care free of charge.
After some coordination between pilots, a schedule was arranged for the Werner family to be flown to Boston. The Werner family was so grateful for this assistance and the kindness that was extended by the pilots. In fact, the pilot who flew the last leg of the trip into Logan Airport is still in touch with the Werner family and checks up on little Camryn’s progress from time to time.
In Boston on July 29th, doctors performed the surgery successfully to begin stretching Camryn’s esophagus. It took approximately 2 weeks for it to stretch during which time she was placed into a medically induced coma to avoid any damage. Once her esophagus was stretched enough, the surgeon connected the esophagus to her stomach. This is a difficult surgery, and complications usually arise. Camryn’s surgeon told the Werner family to expect to be in Boston for 2 months or more.
The family is grateful that they are insured and a lot of Camryn’s medical needs have been covered. However, they are now having to pay out of pocket costs and know that there are major expenses in the future due to the care Camryn is going to need while in Boston.
While staying in Weston with Pastor Armstrong, community and church members have stepped forward to provide assistance to the Werner family. Jan Carlson, director of the Whittemore House Nursery School, has graciously accepted the family’s two year old child, free of charge, into her program at the school and members of the First Baptist Church of Weston have helped providing meals, donations and other items for the family.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to help defray costs for the Werner family can send a check to: The First Baptist Church Of Weston, 657 Boston Post Road, Weston, MA 02493. Please designate “Camryn’s Fund” on the check.
