Family holds fundraiser in son’s honor

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On Aug. 5, 2012, Christine Simmons and her husband Sean Simmons gave birth to beautiful twins Peter William and Sabrina Marie-Claire. Sadly, they were delivered 16 weeks prematurely and Peter did not survive. Thanks to the members of the Perinatal Bereavement Team at Winthrop University Hospital, Christine and Sean, who live in West Hempstead were able to cope with the loss of their son. He is their families’ special angel. Thankfully, the doctors and nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU) at Winthrop University Hospital were able to save Sabrina’s life. After 138 difficult days, she finally came home and is now a healthy, active, smart 2-year-old. It is because of the staff in the NICU that they are able to enjoy her smiling face every day. It is truly amazing how one little girl can change you whole world.

Last month, the Peter William Simmons Memorial Fund hosted its first fundraiser in efforts to raise money for the Winthrop University Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU). The memorial brunch held at the Coral House in Baldwin was to benefit all of the infants and parents who enter into the challenging and often scary world of the NICU. It was our hope that with the funds raised from the fundraiser we could help to make their stay in the NICU a little more comfortable, and a little less stressful. Everyone knows that preemies exist but until you are faced with having your own child or family member in the NICU you don’t understand the exact magnitude of it. We chose to have the fundraiser in October due to it being Infant Child Death Awareness Month.

More than 300 people attended the fundraiser on Oct. 19 and we are proud to say that we raised more than $20,000 for the Winthrop Hospitals NICU. We had collected 146 raffle baskets, 13 grand prizes and six super grand prizes, including getaways, sporting events, dinners around Long Island and autographs from Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, Victor Cruz of the New York Giants, Nick Mangold of the New York Jets, Justin Moore of the New York Rangers and Long Island’s favorite champion and Baldwin native, UFC fighter Chris Weidman.

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