Many Struggles for Mighty Arick in Just a Few Months of Life

Born Premature, This Baby Battles Every Day

In his few months of life, little Arick has been through an ordeal. That's why his family calls him Mighty Arick. Born three months premature, he weighed just one pound, six ounces. At two days of age he developed a perforation in his intestines. A drain was inserted to remove the excess air around his abdomen and diaphram that was created from the perforation. Just when they thought it was doing the trick, Arick's abdomen filled with air again, indicating there was another perforation. Surgery was performed and the surgeon found two perforations. Arick would then have a stoma and three fistulas on his abdomen to excrete stool and bodily fluids until he could recover enough for him to have surgery to reattach his intestines. The surgery took place last month at Edward Hospital. His parents, Rick and Kristi Walker, need help with medical bills.

Here are four more GoFundMe campaigns seeking donations in Plainfield, Romeoville and Bolingbrook.

• Little Kylie must have her blood sugar checked 8 to 10 times a day. She suffers severe Type 1 diabetes and her parents are trying to raise money for a diabetes alert dog. In Romeoville
• A Plainfield woman who lost her legs in an accident in 1996 had been using a van with a wheelchair lift. But the lift is now damaged and she's in need of a new van. In Plainfield
• A family is trying to raise money for relatives in the Philippines who lost everything in the November typhoon. In Bolingbrook
• Mom Chris Zaletel Bajner is raising money to help Ready Set Ride, a volunteer-run non-profit that offers therapeutic horse rides to children with disabilities. Caring for the horses is taking a financial toll on the organization. In Plainfield

To learn more about any of these campaigns, click on the headline in the photograph and you'll be directed to their GoFundMe page. Look for more local and Chicago-area campaigns on GoFundMe, which has partnered with Patch to help draw attention to your neighbors in need.

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