Financial stress is nothing new to anyone in this economy! Due to Dominik’s condition we are under much more financial strain than we once were. We are blessed that Peter, Dominik’s dad has a job that allows Treena, Dominik’s mom to stay at home with the kids! That has been a huge blessing, but also has led to living pay-check to pay-check with only one income. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we do know that Peter has a steady job, that pay-check will keep coming, and we serve a God who will never let us want for anything! God has continued to provide for us our daily needs, even before we know them ourselves. We have learned to be a little more creative with how we spend our money, and which bills get paid first.
We have three beautiful little girls who absolutely adore Dominik! They are Jaiden (8yrs), Jordyn (6yrs), and Danyka (4yrs). Our hope and prayer for many years has been to be able to home-school our kids as long as we can, then put them into a good Christian school. It seems like God has a different plan for our girls. With Dominik’s condition and steadily increasing time and attention needs, home-schooling is not looking like it is going to be an option any longer. That would be too much stress for Treena to try and take on alone during the days, even with some help from Peter in the evenings. We wanted to put them into Christian schools, and if you have ever been involved with a Christian school you know they are not cheap. There is a potential that we will qualify for a scholarship from one of the local private schools, and depending on the size of the scholarship it can still make that dream become reality.
We got the bill for Treena’s hospital stay for the four days up to and including Dominik’s birth, and it came in just over $22,000! Then we got the bill for Dominik’s 6 week stay in the NICU, and it came in at well over $300,000!! With Dominik still on oxygen, that is another more than $1000 per month bill. The classes that we are getting Dominik involved in for the Anat Baniel training have already cost us over $300 for our first session. We have another training session planned in mid April up in Portland with the expectation of that costing again around $300 or $400. Also with the training in San Rafael costing $1500 just for the training sessions, not including fuel to get down there and back, food for the trip, and any other additional expenses for that.
If we are able to continue these training sessions, Dominik will be able to handle longer and more frequent sessions. With the improvement after only two sessions, we feel that this will certainly give Dominik a much better chance at a more full life! However, time is of the essence! We are almost in the middle of the first 6 month window, and then the last window of opportunity closes at 6 years of age! So the more training we can get him in on before then, the better off he will be! We are making every sacrifice possible to make this happen for our son! We want the best life for him that he can possibly have!
Peter’s insurance is very helpful, but can’t cover everything. As of the beginning of March 2011, we are looking at approximately $20,000 for our cost of our medical bills. With Dominik’s uncertain future needs, i.e. wheelchair, leg braces, accessibility upgrades to our home and vehicle, oxygen, medications…..We are expecting that our medical bills will continue around $10,000 to $20,000 per year for the foreseeable future.
Thank you very much for your continued financial and prayer support! We have already received a lot of support in both areas! (-: Please know that to the best of our ability, ALL donations will be used for the Anat Baniel program as well as toys, learning equipment and future equipment needs for Dominik ... we hope to be able to cover all medical bills ourselves! We have been able to pay off some of our smaller bills, and are working on the bigger ones. We pray that God blesses you in return for your support of our little Dominik!!
- The Roby Family