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Eva Pait is one of the luckiest little girls you might ever meet, and at the same time, one of the most unfortunate I’ve ever met. Sweet little Eva was born on March 2nd, this year, with Tricuspid Atresia, a type of heart disease, in which the tricuspid heart valve is missing or abnormally developed.
So, how can I consider Eva to be lucky? She is loved by many people in her community, so much so that 20 volunteers came together today to sell Bar B Q plates to raise funds to pay for some of her medical expenses. I say some because, Eva is facing another surgery in the not too distant future, though she has survived 2 surgeries already, and she is only a little more than 5 months old.
Eva’s Great Aunt, Gloria Dove Allen, along with a few other family members, organized the Bar B Q plate sale. “We sold between 200 and 300 advance tickets in the community,” said Allen, “and we’ve probably had between 300 and 400 people come by today to buy plates without advance tickets.” They started serving at 11:00 AM and by 1:00 PM they were nearly sold out.
“We cooked about 500 pounds of Bar B Q for this,” said Timbo Carroll, “this is for a very good cause.” Eva’s grandpa, Dennis Pait, put on his apron and worked elbow to elbow with Timbo. “We are just trying to help them (Eva’s parents) get what they need for the medical bills,” said Pait.
Eva’s parents are facing more that $100,000.00 in medical bills, so this Bar B Q fundraiser was a very welcome turn of events. Claire Chamberlain set up a GoFundMe account for Eva, to assist with the medical expenses. They are still pretty far from their goal so every dollar counts.
Eva’s weight is up to around 15 pounds now and all of her vital signs are good. She has regular weekly checkups, to keep close watch on her O2 stats, (oxygen saturation of the blood) so the doctors can continue to provide the best of care to this little angelic girl. Wouldn’t it be great if some of our friends and neighbors would donate $10 for every pound she weighs, or $100.00, or $1000.00? That would go a long way to cover the frightening costs her parents are looking at.
Eva’s parents, Jason and Kimmi Pait, live over 3 hours from Duke Hospital’s Pediatric Cardiac Program, where she is receiving her care. Her mother, Kimmi had this to say, “We have been so blessed by all the outpouring of love and kindness we have received from the community. She will need another surgery somewhere between 2 years and 4 years old. I want to say thank you for all the kindness, the prayers, and the donations. We have been so blessed, people we don’t even know have made donations, and we are so grateful. This whole thing has restored my faith in human kindness,” Kimmi said as she began to choke up. She blinked back the tears, as she sat there and silently gave thanks to God for this day and these people.
Eva’s extended family would also like to express their gratitude to the whole community for every prayer, every kind word, and every donation. Family members are: Dennis Pait, and Jackie & Ruford Watson, grandparents; Eric & Carrie Bron, Larry & Ava Simmons, Mike & Cindy Dove, Melissa Dove, aunts and uncles; and great-grand parents, Dewey & Rose Dove. (Apologies to anyone not mentioned.)
Remember, it’s not too late to give, just click the GoFundMe link above and you will be redirected to the donation page. My mother used to tell me: “I used to complain because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.“ After meeting Eva Pait today, I’m very grateful that my heart was fully formed when I was born.
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