Support pours in for grieving father
A father and his newborn baby daughter in P.E.I. are being showered with an outpouring of financial support from across Canada after the man’s wife died last week shortly after giving birth.
Lisa and Morgan MacLean welcomed their daughter, Meredith, into the world at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown on March 8. It was also the new mother’s 33rd birthday.
But the new parents only had an opportunity to hold and kiss little Meredith for a brief period before the baby began to show signs of distress and was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the Charlottetown hospital.
During this time, Lisa experienced unexpected complications from her cesarean section and died at the hospital. Her husband, Morgan MacLean, shared a photo on Facebook this weekend of himself, his wife and new baby, smiling and happy, taken before things went so horribly wrong. In the post, he describes March 8, 2018, as “the most joyful, and the most devastating day of my entire life.”
“She cared for this child in her belly for nine months and put their well-being ahead of absolutely everything. She is the most nurturing, strong person I have ever met,” MacLean wrote on his Facebook post, which has been shared by hundreds of people on the social media website.
“Lisa will forever be Meredith’s mother, and I know she will be watching over us from above, guiding us through life. I also know she will live on through Meredith, and thus never be forgotten in this world.”
Two crowd funding campaigns were started by friends of the couple to support the grieving father and his daughter. Together they raised more than $14,000 in one day. Donations were still pouring in to the two Go Fund Me pages on Monday.
“Lisa was a selfless person and had the heart of gold to help anyone who ever needed it. This is our time to help her family out with funeral expenses, and anything upcoming for Morgan and Meredith,” states one of the Go Fund Me campaign pages.
Islanders reacted with sorrow at news of the family’s tragedy, sharing MacLean’s post widely on social media and offering sentimental tributes and wishes of heartfelt condolence to the family.
“I am forever indebted to her and will cherish her for the rest of my days,” MacLean wrote of his wife in his Facebook post. “Rest easy my bug, and always remember you are the greatest wife and mother to ever walk this planet. Love always and forever Lisa E. MacLean.”