WonderFold Cares - December 2022

To our dearest WonderFold family, we made it. The holidays are here, and the bright lights of this joyous and festive occasion come with them. Wherever you are in the world, we hope you had a fantastic 2022 and are looking forward to an even better 2023. 

This year, we’re happy to say we flourished under a wave of positivity at WonderFold. We helped so many families and communities in need. 

It warms our hearts, but our journey doesn’t stop. As we draw closer to the holiday season (and throughout it), we’re assisting families who need that extra help. As part of that, we’re excited to have more stories to share with you today. 

Today, we’ll be sharing the stories of:

• Amy Bortel.
• Mackenzie Rose.
• Bailey Westerhold.
• Nicole (shared by Brittany Heckman)
• Tanya Christian.

So if you see a name you recognize, feel free to jump straight to their story. Otherwise, read each story below and let these beautiful souls bring happiness to your day—just as they did ours.

Let’s get started. 

Amy’s Story — Everyday Heroes and a Gorgeous Grandbaby

This is the story of a lovely daughter and grandbaby living with high-risk stage 4 neuroblastoma. The grandbaby in this story was diagnosed with the horrible disease in October and has since started treatment in Los Angeles—45 miles from home. 

As you can imagine, life isn’t easy for Amy’s family. However, despite the difficulty, there is happiness to be had—a new baby joined the family on November 9th. 🙂 

Unfortunately, though, looking after two kids isn’t easy. In fact, we’ve spoken to mothers worldwide and know how hard it is, and we’re sure you understand how challenging it is, too. 

However, since the lovely grandbaby of this story is living with high-risk cancer, life for Amy’s fam is even more challenging than that.

Her family sometimes have to go back and forth from the hospital five days in a row so that the grandbaby can get her treatment. Sometimes, the grandbaby doesn’t even get to come home from those treatments.

Now, imagine what needs to come with Amy’s family on the days when Grandbaby can’t come home:

• Toys
• Games
• Diapers
• A stroller
• Baby seat
• Extra clothes

Not to mention, Amy’s family has to find a place to park in a big LA hospital, which can be troublesome.

However, that’s not all there is to this story—this story also includes two everyday heroes. 

The mother in this story is a nurse, and her husband is a fireman. So getting time off to tend to poor Grandbaby isn’t easy—they have to take lots of sick days and vacation time to stay with her.

We understand how difficult that must be, and we wanted to do everything we could to help. So we’ve donated Amy and fam one of our W4 Elite wagons.

W4 Elite Stroller Wagon

The W4 Elite Stroller Wagon holds up to 4 children, but for Amy and her family, it will provide ample storage space to ensure they’re equipped for Amy’s in-patient stays. It has a deep carriage, a weight capacity of up to 300 lbs, and even zippered mesh panels on the sides for extra storage space.

Amy and fam, we hope it makes your life easier. <3

And remember, because both of your parents are everyday heroes, you can also sign up for our exclusive heroes discount should you ever need more from us. 

Mackenzie’s Story — A Gift for Difficult Times

This story isn’t easy to talk about. Recently, the Rose family found themselves in a difficult situation. The mom of this dear family is caring for her four children all on her own—two of her children are four years of age, and the other two are only babies. 

We mentioned in Amy’s story how difficult looking after two kids is, but being on your own with four kids, we can’t even imagine.

However, Rose has a caring support network helping her pay her bills, and we want to help, too—because Rose—we’re told you’re an incredibly sweet family.

So, like with Amy, we’ve gifted Mackenzie Rose and her family a W4 Elite Stroller Wagon. We know Mom was saving for a wagon, but you don’t need to save anymore. We’re here to help. <3

Bailey’s Story — Surgeries with a Little Warrior

This next story features Bailey, but be warned, it’s another hard one to hear.

It all started when Bailey went to find out the gender of her second baby. After two unsuccessful trips and having specialists tell her they couldn’t identify her baby’s gender, she contacted her obstetrician.

Bailey’s obstetrician booked her in for an ultrasound—and it wasn’t long after that when Bailey was told some terrible news. 

“Your baby will not make it past 20 weeks of pregnancy. The baby has too many defects to survive.”

Hearing this news is just horrible. And unsurprisingly, Bailey had to start going for weekly heartbeat checks afterward; she suffered from depression, and it all ultimately changed her life. 

As time went on, Bailey learned more about her baby’s condition. Her baby had:

• Spina bifida
• Hydrocephalus
• Bilateral clubfoot
• Tetralogy of Fallot

And not long after, Bailey went into early labor. She was admitted into hospital before having a C-Section weeks later.

The good news is the baby boy made it. However, there were more complications for Bailey and fam ahead—her baby was born with VACTERL. Jump to today, and he’s had ten surgeries:

• Spinal surgery
• Open heart surgery
• Brain surgery
• And more…

The latest surgery took place in December, where he had a section of his bowels removed, a G-Tube put in place, and his bladder repaired.

As you can imagine, that means there’s constantly a lot of equipment on hand. For Bailey’s family, it’s difficult for them to now remain mobile and enjoy the outdoors. This is where WonderFold is stepping in. We’re also gifting Bailey and the family a W4 Elite Wagon. 

Nicole’s Story — A Valuable Surprise

We love it when our WonderFold wagons are surprises, and this is precisely what this wagon is; let’s take a look.

Nicole is a devoted mother facing an incredibly difficult journey. She’s traveling regularly to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Tennessee with her baby, who is just six months old and undergoing treatment, as well as her 8-year-old daughter, Tiar.

That’s right—Nicole doesn’t just have one child to care for on these intense trips. Managing two young children, navigating airports, and making frequent appointments is more than a full-time job—especially when you consider the extra items she has to bring, like a stroller and a car seat.

That’s why we were so honored to hear that her loved ones wanted to surprise her with a WonderFold wagon, and we were thrilled to help make that happen.

Brittany, Nicole’s supportive stepdaughter, let us know that a W4 Elite Wagon would be the perfect gift to help Nicole carry both children more comfortably while traveling. Since receiving the wagon just before Christmas 2022, Nicole shared that it’s been a tremendous help—especially during airport travel and hospital visits. The wagon has made things more manageable and helped keep both girls content and comfortable during this incredibly challenging time.

Nicole, we’re thinking of you, and we hope this wagon continues to make life just a little bit easier. And to Brittany—thank you for helping share the story and clearing up the details. We're so grateful to be a small part of your family's journey.

Tanya’s Story — Two Heroes. We Want to Give Back

This last story is about two veterans who’ve both served tours in the Iraq war. The first veteran is Tanya, and she’s had a tough year. 

She was recently diagnosed with an incredibly rare form of cancer. It stopped her from working, and she had to undergo chemo and radiotherapy to try and be rid of it.

There is good news to be had. Tanya is now cancer free! 

Yet, despite being a veteran and hero, she is not exempt from medical bills. 

Additionally, her husband is a veteran, too, who was medically discharged from the military after ten years of service. This was after having several back surgeries, which now means he struggles to help with his and Tanya’s children.

So we want to give the two heroes of this story a W2 Elite Stroller. We hope it gives you more chances to get the kids outside, take them to soccer games, and even the zoo! We wish you the best in your recovery Tanya and hope a wagon provides valuable memories with your family and kids. Thank your sister, Jennifer for giving us this opportunity to give back to you. 

Wonderfold Cares, and Here’s What We’re Doing to Help

That’s it for our WonderFold Cares stories. However, we’ll be busy going into 2023 supporting other families in need. If you think you or someone you know needs help, please fill out our WonderFold Cares form, and let us know what we can do. 

Alternatively, if you’re an everyday hero like the heroes in Jennifer and Mackenzie’s family, check out our exclusive Everyday Heroes Discount.

Finally, if you want to learn what else WonderFold has been doing to support our community, check out some of our other WonderFold Cares blog posts: 

• WonderFold Cares — November 2022
• WonderFold Cares — September 2022
• WonderFold Cares — August 2022
• WonderFold Cares — July 2022