By Deb Kroon
Review Staff Writer
February is National Heart Awareness Month and Congenital Heart Defects (CHDs) are one of America’s most common birth defects. CHD is a problem with the structure of the heart that is present at birth. It results when the heart, or blood vessels near the heart don’t develop normally before birth. Each year, congenital heart defects impact 40,000 babies in the United States, over 25% of whom need at least one invasive surgery in their lifetime.
On February 13, 2017, Mike and Melissa Einck gave birth to their second beautiful baby girl – Molly. Along with her older sister Mari, the family numbered four. Molly was born with CHD, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, and began the fight for her life. Over the next couple of years, she spent many days and nights in the hospital in Sioux Falls, SD, in Minneapolis and C.S Mott’s Children’s Hospital in Michigan. Molly underwent 5 open heart surgeries and many other procedures. Exhausting every other possibility, Molly needed a heart transplant.
Molly went to Children’s Minneapolis where she was put on the transplant list. “Accommodations at the hospital are really bad,” said Mike. “There were around 36 rooms on Molly’s floor and 11 on the next floor-these were just heart kids,” Mel went on. “There was a Ronald McDonald House on the third floor. They had 15 beds for the whole hospital, so there were only a few beds allotted the heart patient families. Families got to stay there according to how sick your child was, if they had a procedure, or how far from home you were. It was a day to day thing. Families had to put in for a room for the next night. There were no guarantees. We basically lived out of Molly’s closet. If we didn’t get a room
in the hospital, we tried to get
a hotel room which were full most of the time. Mike has a cousin, Roger, who lives in St. Michael but that was a 1/2 hour away. We were on the list for the permanent Ronald McDonald House, 5 miles from Molly, for 50 days until we got in.” “It was so frustrating,” said Mike. “Sometimes, anywhere was too far. 5 miles could take a 1/2 hour with the traffic.” Some nights they would just stay in Molly’s room, which wasn’t very large, and there were two nurses in the room twenty-four hours a day, along with 4-5 machines. There was a very uncomfortable chair and couch in her room, but it was always very busy and noisy, making sleep impossible.
Mike had to come home each week to work. “I had to come home,” he said. “I needed to keep the benefits. UPS was working with me so I wanted to work an extra day for them. I would work two days, and be with Mari. We would head back to the Cities on Friday, and then Mari would go home with one of our families who came up on the weekends.”
Molly fought as hard as her little body could, but she received her angel wings on September 17, 2019.
“In each hospital we stayed, every overnight stay, Molly was given a tied blanket. The kids are given the blankets so that it feels a little more like home, rather than a plain hospital blanket. When we held our blanket making event in Wilmont, we made 108 blankets and have ended up with 130 blankets all together. It was unbelievable,” said Melissa. “The donations we received from individuals, a large donation from the Kiwanis Club from Worthington and a grant from Thrivent turned out to be more than we ever dreamed. We ironed a tag on each blanket that says ‘May Our Love Lift You’. We can’t put any name on the blankets, but we know this stands for Molly. This is another way we can give back to other kids.”
Molly’s third birthday is this coming Thursday, Feb. 13th. To celebrate her birthday, Mike, Mel, Mari and their new baby, Mabrey, will go to the Sanford Castle in Sioux Falls to present 30 blankets and Molly’s tile. Children are eligible to decorate a ceiling tile if they accumulate more than 12 overnight stays at the Castle. The tiles were started by the late Tara Bullerman, daughter of Tom and Trish Bullerman. “It’s perfect,” said Mel about Molly’s Tile. “A lot of the kids do them themselves, but since Molly isn’t here, we had McKenzie Wieneke design Molly’s. I told her I wanted a butterfly, a cross and a heart in purples and reds. We will put it in the cardiac wing at the Castle. It won’t be a big ceremony or anything, just us. It’s bittersweet to see the different tiles in the waiting rooms, patient rooms and hallways. Every tile tells a story. Afterwards we are going to the Butterfly House. We were given a year membership to the Butterfly House from someone anonymously. Butterflies are special to Molly.”
Mike and Mel know it is hard for people to know what to say someone who has lost a child. “We want to share Molly,” Mike said. “Not talking about Molly is what hurts. We think of Molly every minute of every day.” “She’s here with us all of the time,” said Mel. “It’s not talking about her that’s hard. We want people to know that you don’t have to always say the right thing. Sometimes a hug and ‘I’m thinking about you’ is enough.”
“We have been so blessed by all of the people that have been there to help us and for support. Our small towns are amazing. We want to give back to others as people have given to us, to try to make their journey a little less painful, a little less stressful. We said that when Molly’s stuff was over, we would try to help people like we were helped,” said Melissa. We’ve been working with someone from the transplant team/foundation at Children’s. We are going to give food vouchers and gas cards for people to use while staying in the hospital. Long term, we are starting a non-profit. We want to help fund a house for transplant families to stay while at Children’s. It is years away, though.” “You don’t know what you need until you’re in that spot. When you have a child like Molly,” said Mike, “you don’t think about where you’ll stay. It’s a stressor you don’t need.”
On April 18th, the Eincks are going to hold the first event to raise money for the foundation. Along with Mike’s brother, whose child has Cystic Fibrous, they are sponsoring a fun night with a meal and entertainment, including County Line Drive, at St. Columba Hall in Iona. The details aren’t complete yet, but it will be a fun night for everyone. The information and tickets will be available shortly. The proceeds for this event will be split between the Einck’s foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Molly Jo’s spirit will live forever in the hearts of her family. Giving to others is a small way for Mike and Melissa to give back and help someone else going through the agony they did. Help remember Molly, and support the Einck’s foundation by joining them on April 18th in Iona.
