WonderFold Cares | November 2022

Another month has gone by, and we’re hitting the heights of winter. 

Lower temperatures, darker days, crispier skies, and blustery breezes. Yet with these hardships comes the crystalline joy and beautiful atmospheres of this end-of-year season. The holidays are coming around fast, and the WonderFold Cares program is in full motion helping those in need.  

This month, we’ve been honored and privileged to donate several of our stroller wagons to those who need that extra bit of help. 

Yet before we get into those stories, we’re also excited about some other happenings in the WonderFold world, too — like our recent WFhalloween costume contest (which was lots of fun!) and our introduction of the Wonderbowl. So, please do check out those stories if you want to learn more about them. 

That said, here are some of the WonderFold Cares stories that we wanted to share from the past month:

Kaiden’s Story — A Family of Growing Triplets

Austin and his wife are a pair with a lot on their plate. They have three bright and brilliant young boys who are growing daily: Kaiden, Kallum, and Rowan. 

However, there’s more to this story than meets the eye. Kaiden lives with a disability — Cerebral Palsy. He’s only two years old and has already had two open-heart surgeries. 

Unfortunately, open heart surgeries don’t come cheap. Finances are spread thin, and it doesn’t help that Austin’s wife has stepped down from her job to attend to young Kaiden’s needs, ensuring he’s living his best life.

Meanwhile, Kaiden’s brother Kallum is growing too old to share the family’s current wagon with Kaiden and Rowan. He’s reaching that wandering phase of his life where there simply isn’t enough room in the wagon for him to spread his wings. 

That said, it’s not like Austin and his wife can just pack up the wagon and let their children wander. Especially not with Kaiden. Kaiden can’t walk, and the fam is still waiting for his wheelchair to arrive before they can begin adventuring. 

As you can no doubt imagine, visiting places like the zoo is quite difficult for Austin’s family.

This story went straight to our hearts, so we gifted Austin and the fam a brand new W4 Elite Wagon to help alleviate some of those struggles. We wanted to give the kids a chance to get out and enjoy the fresh air with room to move around in the wagon, and we really do hope it helps. 

The W4 stroller wagon measures an inside width of 33”x21”. It includes raised reclining seats, an adjustable canopy, and can seat up to 4 children.

In other words, it’s perfect for Austin and his wife to seat their three kids, with extra space on the side for additional storage. 

Austin, we really hope this stroller wagon helps you spend more time with your children and relaxes some of your pressures. All the best from WonderFold!

Skylar’s Story — A Difficult Road for a Beautiful Soul

Little Skylar brings an aura of warmth wherever she goes. Her eyes and smile are intoxicating, and her laugh is contagious. She had the ingredients for a perfect upbringing, with life looking good for first-time parents Jim and Amanda.  

Yet when Skylar was just six months old, Jim and Amanda realized their beautiful daughter was struggling. She stopped saying “Mama,” stopped babbling, and started to show the beginnings of having seizures. Poor Amanda was overwhelmed — for a first-time Mom, knowing what to do was challenging.

Little Skylar is four years old today. She uses braces to walk and can’t speak, and the frequency of her seizures is increasing. She has Rett Syndrome — a rare developmental and neurological disorder that makes breathing, eating, walking, and speaking difficult. 

Those living with this disability need full-time medical supervision and home care. 

Enjoying a happy life with Skylar is quickly growing difficult for Jim and Amanda. Yet, we want to make their journey as easy as possible, so we were compelled to contribute somehow. That’s why we decided to give Skylar and fam one of our W4 Elite Wagons. We know it won’t end their difficulties, but we hope it makes life easier for them.

Tripp’s Story — Frequent Travel With Difficult Transportation

Young Tripp and fam want to make happy memories. Yet, it’s difficult because Tripp was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. 

This means weeks of treatment and constantly changing amounts of energy for Tripp. Sometimes he can walk just fine, and other times he struggles to get off his feet — wanting nothing more than to sleep.

Yet, mother Carlie and Tripp’s family are constantly on the move. Tripp has weekly cancer treatments until July 2024, and on top of that, his family still wants him to get out for as much fresh air and exercise as possible. 

However, Tripp’s younger sister is only four months old and is still too young to walk. Carlie doesn’t want her missing out when they take Tripp and fam out for fresh air, but when Tripp struggles to walk, there’s little room for him and his sister in an everyday stroller.

What’s more, Tripp doesn’t enjoy feeling like a baby when he has no choice but to be in an everyday stroller.

So we at WonderFold decided to give Tripp and fam a W2 Elite Wagon. We hoped to make life a little bit easier for them, and we’re glad to say that’s exactly what we did. 

Tree of Hope (Fundraising for Ronald McDonald House) — Candace’s Story.

Here’s a story we wanted to highlight: In August 2021, Candace Provost lost her sleeping angel. However, she’s keeping his memory alive by decorating a Christmas tree with both baby and kid-themed items. The tree will be raffled at the annual Tree of Hope event hosted by Ronald McDonald House, with all proceeds going to children needing that extra bit of help for improved well-being. 

You can learn more about the event here.

If you want to learn more about Ronald McDonald House Charities themselves, check out their website here. 

Toolbox For Those Living With Down Syndrome

The final story is a personal one of ours. At WonderFold, we’ve given ourselves a mission: to provide newborn babies (up to 2 years of age) living with down syndrome (DS) with a developmental therapy toolbox. 

These toolboxes will include the following therapies:

The toolbox costs $150 to fill and ship, but we send them to families in need free of charge. 

Here are some stats:

Unfortunately, we were unaware of how pressing the need for this box was within our community. Yet, we want to honor every family in need who has registered for the toolbox.

Therefore, we’ve donated a W2 Elite stroller to Houston DS Buddy Walk to help raise funds so we can provide more toolboxes for children living with down syndrome.

We’re WonderFold, And We Care

That’s it for our November 2022 stories. However, so many families are out there waiting for our help, and we’re doing everything we can to provide for them.

Why not check out some of our stories from previous months?

• WonderFold Cares September 2022.
• WonderFold Cares August 2022.
• WonderFold Cares July 2022.

If you’re located in the USA and are a family that needs that extra bit of help, you can also visit our WonderFold Cares program. Fill out the form and submit your story, and we’ll see what we can do to help.

See you next month!