GoFundMe campaign started for Slocan parents of premature baby

By Nelson Daily Staff

Wren Gilchrist was born in January prematurely at only 27 weeks at a hospital in Victoria. — Submitted photo

Friends and family of a young Kootenay couple are rallying around them with love and support after their baby was born prematurely at only 27 weeks.

On (Saturday) January 14, tiny Wren Gilchrist let out a cry during birth at a Victoria Hospital weighing only two pounds. While the cry itself was a good sign that her lungs are developed, the newborn still requires life support and is developing in a hospital incubator.

Wren is the second child in the past 12 months for Mount Sentinel grad Terre Gilchrist and partner Jessica Johnston. During the next 100 days, the family will be living near the Victoria hospital, some 800 kilometers from their Slocan home.

“These are very fragile, emotional times, and the support would mean so much to help reduce additional stress on their situation,” said John Gilchrist, who also lived in the Slocan valley for decades.

Terre, a graduate of Selkirk College Forestry program, is part owner in Evergreen Forest Services, a cooperative that operated out of the Slocan Valley for decades.

As seasonal workers, the Slocan Valley couple faces not only mounting bills, but also lost wages while they stay nearby daughter Wren, the younger sister of brother Pan.

Grandfather John Gilchrist has started a GoFundMe campaign to try to help them pay for their lodging, food and basic necessities, as well as the costs they have acquired in relocating.

Help the family out by visiting the GoFundMe campaign.