Jaime Ramirez’s life was forever changed in the early days of 2023, when his firstborn child was born three months earlier than expected.
The premature birth of his daughter Maria led to major health challenges: Her esophagus wasn’t fully connected. Her lungs were abnormally small. For months, she had to be intubated at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland.
“She wasn’t able to swallow or have anything go through her mouth,” Ramirez said. “It was a rare case.”
Ramirez and his wife, Alejandra, turned to prayer and support from family to endure the challenging situation. A psychologist advised them to seek acceptance of the challenges and “to make life as best as we can” by supporting each other emotionally, Jaime said.
He returned to work as a construction laborer in March, but went back to the hospital every evening to be with Maria. He later quit his job to take care of his newborn full time. Thankfully, his previous health insurance from the laborers union, plus his wife’s union job at a Safeway bakery, covered the mounting hospital bills for six months.
Finally, in August, Maria’s tubes were removed. The focus shifted to mending her esophagus. Multiple surgeries had failed to connect it properly. A fourth attempt was scheduled for Dec. 12, 2023 — auspiciously the same date as the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. If it didn’t work, Maria would require a hole in the side of her neck.
It succeeded.
“We were praying,” Jaime said. “Thank God everything turned out fine.”
But Maria remained in critical care for another month and had to remain immobilized because there was too much tension on the ends of her esophagus. She would awaken and try to remove equipment like a drainage pipe and intravenous line. “We would try to calm her down, sing her lullabies,” Jaime said.
Steadily, she recovered and finally went home a full year after being born.
“With faith and prayers it worked out great,” he said.
Unfortunately, his family was in a precarious financial position. They had been relying on help from friends and family, as well as unemployment benefits, but that aid was mostly exhausted. Jaime hadn’t been working for months.
Their challenges were compounded in March, when Alejandra gave birth to a son, which required a successful emergency C-section.
The family asked the manager of their apartment complex for ideas for aid and was referred to the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund. It was provided with enough money to cover a couple months of rent. The fund works year-round to prevent homelessness and hunger in the nine-county Bay Area. All donations go directly to help people in need.
“It helped us out greatly,” Jaime said. “We were still trying to deal with everything.”
In July, he was hired at Costco. His kids are now both healthy and crawling around their home. Maria is vocalizing and “quite the carnivore,” he said. “They’re both joys.”
With the holidays approaching, Jaime is looking forward to donating to Season of Sharing himself, with Costco providing a 70% match, to help future families in need.
“You really are helping people in the community. We never know if it’s going to be one of us,” Jaime said. “It’s fantastic.”
Reach Roland Li: roland.li@sfchronicle.com; X: @rolandlisf
Photos by: Jessica Christian/The Chronicle
At Season of Sharing Fund, we believe that an unexpected financial crisis should never mean losing your home. Preventing homelessness isn’t just kind—it’s also the most effective way to keep our communities thriving. 100% of your donation keeps Bay Area residents housed, cared for and nourished.
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