Family uses holiday light display to raise awareness, help local preemies

Fitzgerald family creates online fundraiser to help premature babies in Lynchburg, Roanoke hospitals

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Vaden Fitzgerald is seven years old and has a thing for ducks.

“I have a whole collection of ducks,” Vaden said.

And he lights up when he’s talking about them.

“I don’t just have regular ones. I have that one, which is not a regular one,” Vaden said.

Vaden’s 9-foot tall “irregular” ducky stands out with purpose in his parents’ yard.

“Because it raises money for people that are in the NICU,” Vaden said.

Vaden’s mom, Karen, developed HELLP Syndrome when she was pregnant. It causes serious complications with high blood pressure during pregnancy.

In 2012, she was pregnant with Vaden and healthy until she started feeling pain in her upper right side at just 30 weeks.

“It was 3:30, they said this baby has to come out by 4:30. And so within an hour, he was born. He was 3 lbs and 2 oz. He was taken across town. So I actually did not see him for three days,” Fitzgerald said.

The Fitzgerald’s moved to the Lynchburg area from South Carolina where 1 of 6 babies are born prematurely.

In Virginia, it’s 1 of 11 babies. A statistic, Fitzgerald says, still needs to be talked about.

“We just need to bring more awareness to this. And that’s been really the most important thing to me," Fitzgerald said.

Now a mom of two, Fitzgerald wants to use her experience to help families in Lynchburg and Roanoke who have babies in the NICU.

The family needs $200 for their online fundraiser to create care packages that'll include onesies.

"In the beginning with all the wires and monitors they can't. So being able to put on that first onesie is a really big deal,” Fitzgerald said.

A big deal Vaden hopes will help local preemies.

“I hope that they have a really nice Christmas and that they get to go home with their parents,” Vaden said.

The Fitzgeralds’ hope is to deliver the care bags by the new year.

To donate you can click the fundraiser link below and visit Vaden’s Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/donate/533011500888220/2674777889281587/