Serving to preserve a memory

Photo By Lewis Hilburn | During Public Service Recognition Week the Defense Finance and Accounting recognizes and applauds Valerie Kimball, Accounts Payable Legacy Entitlements accounting technician, for her public service efforts that go beyond her federal position. Kimball strives to preserve the memory of her late niece, Kyleigh Rose, by assisting her brother's non-profit charity, Twin-To-Twin Butterfly Fund, as the secretary and webmaster.  

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, UNITED STATES

05.04.2021

Story by Steven Lawson 

Defense Finance and Accounting Service

Indianapolis, May 5, 2021 – It has been said that something beautiful can bloom out of the worst tragedies, something that Defense Finance and Accounting Service Rome, N.Y.s Valerie Kimball can understand more than most.

Kimball, Accounts Payable Legacy Entitlements accounting technician, has worked in Rome for 13 years, experienced the worst when her niece Kyleigh Rose passed away just six weeks after being born, having spent her entire life in Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y.

Kimball's brother Brett and sister-in-law Samantha found out they were expecting in October 2015 and one month later found out they were going to have identical twin girls. Immediately specialists started monitoring to ensure everything went smoothly with the pregnancy. It was during this time they first heard of Twin To Twin Syndrome (TTTS), a condition that occurs when two babies in the womb share a placenta relying on the same blood vessels for nutrients.

The danger of TTTS is that one baby can get too many nutrients and blood while depriving the other of them.

Twenty-nine weeks into the pregnancy, specialist's realized Baby A was getting more fluid than the other. At week 31, during a procedure to remove some of Baby A's fluid in her lungs, they determined both babies were in distress, and prompting them to deliver the twins nine weeks early.

The two babies were named Kora (Baby A) and Kyleigh (Baby B). From the beginning, it was a struggle for Kyleigh.

"Kyleigh Rose was just six weeks old when she passed from TTTS," said Kimball. "The twins spent those first six weeks in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, and my brother and sister-in-law spent countless hours there with them.

"Our whole family was greatly impacted by her passing and everything that happened leading up to it."

To preserve Kyleigh Rose's memory, Kimball's brother created the Twin-To-Twin Butterfly Fund 501 (c) 3 non-profit charity where Kimball serves as secretary and webmaster.

"They wanted to be able to donate and help other families impacted by not only TTTS but also those who experience a premature birth," stated Kimball.

Currently, the charity supports the local Central New York Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse by paying for family stays; stocking the food pantry; providing laundry bags and preemie and newborn clothing gift bags for families who stay there; the charity also participates in Meals that Heal for the families as well.

"This past fall, we also began supporting Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital in Syracuse by providing toys for patients of all ages to their Child Life Program," Kimball related.

The fund holds three fundraisers each year and raises about $6,000. However, due to COVID, donations are down and the group has resorted to online fundraising.

"Our long-term goals of the fund include funding research on TTTS and to potentially fund a scholarship for a nursing student with interest in neonatal nursing," Kimball said.

Celebrated annually during the first week of May since 1985, Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) is time set aside to honor the men and women who serve our nation as federal, state, county, and local government employees.

• Date Taken: 05.04.2021
• Date Posted: 05.05.2021 13:37
• Story ID: 395674
• Location: INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US