April 6th marks one year since Wallingford resident Emma Kowalczyk passed away. She was four and a half months old.
She and her twin sister, Ella, shared a womb, and, more importantly, a placenta. As sometimes happens in such cases, the girls suffered from Twin-to-twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS): the shared placenta allowed a shared blood supply. Blood transfused from one to the other and Emma was left badly undernourished. She fought a good fight, but finally succumbed to complications one year ago today.
She did squeeze in happy times with her family in the short time she had here, enjoying the color yellow, The Beatles (good taste, little one!) and swinging on an infant swingset. In her memory, her parents provided a swingset to the children of Lowman Beach Park in West Seattle. We attended the dedication ceremony yesterday.
In a beautiful turn, the Kowlczyk’s have decided to turn a tragedy into an opportunity, hoping to prevent the sadness that visited their family from visiting others: They founded a charitable organization to raise money for research into TTTS, Climb for Kids.
Since the end of 2007, Climb For Kids has raised over $40,000 to fund research and to aid parents of children afflicted with TTTS. They’re sponsoring a climb this summer, as well, so if you’d like to get involved or sponsor a climber, visit their web site, http://climbforkids.org/.
And if you pass us today, don’t be surprised if we’re whistling The Beatles.