Illness exhausts family resources
Paper: Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
Title: Illness exhausts family resources
Author: STEVEN ANDREWS
Date: March 23, 2005
DERBY - When Scott and Lauren Flanigan were preparing to have their third son in six years, they knew their children would become the focus of their lives. However, when their son Dillon was born with a rare and debilitating disease that requires constant attention and costs thousands of dollars a day to manage, their world was transformed. Now, with their insurance company refusing home nursing care and any state legislative help stalled, the family has turned to the community for help.
An April 17 benefit in East Haven featuring food, entertainment, a raffle and a silent auction will raise money for the Dillon Flanigan Foundation.
The 16-month-old boy suffers from Type II collagen chondroplasia and restrictive lung disease, which limits his ability to breathe. The condition affects only one in a million children.
Dillon cannot speak because of a tracheotomy and requires constant attention due to his use of a ventilator and feeding tube. The family's struggles revolve around their attempt to keep Dillon at home, as their insurance company is staged to remove all support.
"The company only gives us 80 nursing visits for each year, which we've already exhausted," Lauren Flanigan said. The company is willing to pay for Dillon's care in a hospital, but the family wishes to keep him at home.
"The best place to raise him is here with his family," Flanigan said. "They are willing to pay $3,000 a day to keep him in a facility, but not less to keep him home."
The family hopes that at the very least, the fund-raiser will help keep Dillon out of the hospital as long as possible.
"We spend every waking moment worrying about this and what we're going to do," Flanigan said. "As far as I know right now, I'm prepared to just stay up 24/7 with him."
The benefit will take place at the Irish American Community Center on Venice Place in East Haven on April 17 from 2 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 and children under 10 are free.
For tickets, call 799-2641 or visit www.thedillonflaniganfoundation.org.
(c) 2005 The Connecticut Post. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
Title: Illness exhausts family resources
Author: STEVEN ANDREWS
Date: March 23, 2005
DERBY - When Scott and Lauren Flanigan were preparing to have their third son in six years, they knew their children would become the focus of their lives. However, when their son Dillon was born with a rare and debilitating disease that requires constant attention and costs thousands of dollars a day to manage, their world was transformed. Now, with their insurance company refusing home nursing care and any state legislative help stalled, the family has turned to the community for help.
An April 17 benefit in East Haven featuring food, entertainment, a raffle and a silent auction will raise money for the Dillon Flanigan Foundation.
The 16-month-old boy suffers from Type II collagen chondroplasia and restrictive lung disease, which limits his ability to breathe. The condition affects only one in a million children.
Dillon cannot speak because of a tracheotomy and requires constant attention due to his use of a ventilator and feeding tube. The family's struggles revolve around their attempt to keep Dillon at home, as their insurance company is staged to remove all support.
"The company only gives us 80 nursing visits for each year, which we've already exhausted," Lauren Flanigan said. The company is willing to pay for Dillon's care in a hospital, but the family wishes to keep him at home.
"The best place to raise him is here with his family," Flanigan said. "They are willing to pay $3,000 a day to keep him in a facility, but not less to keep him home."
The family hopes that at the very least, the fund-raiser will help keep Dillon out of the hospital as long as possible.
"We spend every waking moment worrying about this and what we're going to do," Flanigan said. "As far as I know right now, I'm prepared to just stay up 24/7 with him."
The benefit will take place at the Irish American Community Center on Venice Place in East Haven on April 17 from 2 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 and children under 10 are free.
For tickets, call 799-2641 or visit www.thedillonflaniganfoundation.org.
(c) 2005 The Connecticut Post. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
posted by Steven Andrews at
9:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home