On February 22nd of 2019, Brandon Dailey Jr. was born at 23 weeks and 3 days gestation. He was born at Winnie Palmer Hospital in Orlando via emergency cesarean section. Though the doctors informed us his chance of survival after birth was slim, we continued to hope for the best. Brandon weighed 14.1 oz and was only 10.5 inches long. Though he was tiny, he was a BIG fighter. Brandon Jr. fought hard and strong for five weeks in the NICU at Winnie. For five weeks we were able to watch him grow and thrive. We saw him open his eyes for the first time and gave him his first bath. We were able to change his diapers daily and feed him, say our good mornings and read him bedtime stories. We were there every step of the way until his fight came to an end on March 29, and this was all possible because of the Ronald McDonald House.
We were not the only family in this situation. We met many other families from around the country were sharing our struggles. RMHC provided each of us an opportunity to forget the stress of finding and affording a place to stay near our loved ones, and focus our energy spending time with the children who needed us most.
And we would love nothing more, than to give back to families who are in the same need as we once were. RMHC has an Adopt a Room program. For $5000 a year we can sponsor a room to help families in the toughest time that they will ever face. We can offer the peace of mind that they have a place to stay where they are needed. We would like to do this annually and dedicate the same room we stayed in to our late son, Brandon Jr.
That is why on Brandon Jr’s birthday, February 22, 2020, we, Shamrock Tattoo, and many supporting community members held the first annual Brandon Dailey Jr. Memorial RMHC fundraiser. It was a huge success. With an overwhelming outpouring of support we were able to raise an incredible $10,000! Now two rooms have been sponsored and our community has helped twice the families we had hoped to. We look forward to the future fundraising opportunities to help as many people as possible.
