Tire care manager knows the value CMN Hospitals brings to families
Tire care manager knows the value CMN Hospitals brings to families
At just almost 18 months of age, Azariah Jade already has endured more than many could imagine.
Born 12 weeks early, Azariah spent the first 91 days of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit at Bernard and Millie Duker Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center in New York and experienced three surgeries within her first six months.
Her first surgery was a colectomy to remove her colon because part of her large intestine was not functioning. Azariah then had to have a follow-up ostomy surgery, and before being released from the hospital, she underwent eye surgery to prevent vision issues later in life.
This is why Love's Children's Miracle Network Hospitals campaign is so important to Azariah's dad, Peter Quickenton, a tire care customer service manager at Love's 611 in Canaan, New York.
"Whenever the CMN Hospitals campaign comes around, I always find the extra funds to donate, and I really push hard for it. I know they're helping families like us," Peter said.
You can donate to CMN Hospitals at any Love's location by purchasing a miracle balloon through Sept. 30!
Now, Azariah is healthy and thriving, and Peter gives all the credit to the care she received from the nurses and doctors in the children's hospital.
"Health-wise she's doing amazing. She's doing good with it all now," Peter said. "In the NICU, the care was absolutely amazing. The hospital isn't new but their NICU had just been redone, so they had a lot more equipment that was used to help my daughter."
Peter also was impressed with the programs and services offered to him and his wife, Theresa, during their daughter's extended hospital stay.
Quickenton's daughter experienced first-hand support from CMN Hospitals as she was born 12 weeks premature and spent her first 91 days in the NICU.
Peter and Theresa Quickenton hold their daughter Azariah for the first time.
Because Peter and Theresa lived about 30 miles from the hospital in Albany, they took advantage of the support offered from the hospital through Hailey's Hope Foundation, an organization supporting families with babies in New York-area NICUs. They received $500 fuel cards each month to help with the back-and-forth commute and food cards for the hospital food court.
The hospital staff also contacted pediatricians and specialists for them and helped them navigate through the complexities of all their daughter's health care needs.
"Obviously, it was a really stressful situation," Peter said. "It was a lot of stress for both of us, but a lot more of it was trying to alleviate my wife's stress. She blamed herself for everything our daughter was going through because she had preeclampsia, so my role in the whole thing was alleviating her stress."
Peter joined Love's in June 2018, right around the time his daughter came home from the hospital, and this is his second year to see the Love's CMN Hospitals campaign in action.
Not only is he grateful to work for a company that supports a cause he champions, he's also excited to work for a company that provides opportunities for so many.
"Love's is definitely the best company I've ever worked for. They give people amazing opportunities, and I'm one of them. I'm in the customer service manager program right now and looking to move up in the company. I just think it's wonderful this company supports and raises money for CMN Hospitals. I can't think of a better organization to support."