After Mom Rushes Kid to ER, Strangers Swarm, Save Car

Women respond to Facebook plea, feed meter, offer coffee and moral support
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2015 7:59 AM CDT
Updated Jul 26, 2015 4:00 PM CDT
After Mom Rushes Kid to ER, Strangers Swarm, Save Car
Kaylee Goemans' Facebook status update.   (Kaylee Goemans)

When ultrasounds and X-rays revealed the cause of her 6-week-old son's two-hour screaming fits, Kaylee Goemans was told to get baby Dominic to the ER immediately to treat a loop in his bowels filled with air and fluid. But the mom of three, who'd lost her job when she was 28 weeks pregnant, couldn't afford the hospital's $15 parking fee, so she fed a street meter with enough change to get her through four hours, thinking she'd be out with time to spare. When that proved quite wrong, Goemans turned to Facebook, reports Today—specifically, a group of local moms. And they rallied: Over the next several hours, five women went to Goemans' car in Barrie, Ontario, in a tag-team effort that fed the meter, and 100 people left encouraging comments and offers to run errands or drop off coffee or food.

"I was overwhelmed" by the response, Goemans tells CBS News. "It made my situation so much less stressful—so I was able to focus on my son's needs and not about the car being towed." Baby Dominic has been diagnosed with intussusception (when one part of the intestine is inverted) and a heart murmur, so there will be many more visits to the doctor's office, but Goemans says at least he's growing up in a place where people help one another. "It's a rough world right now and we only have each other in it," Goemans says. "We need to show the next generation how important it is to help others who need it." (Check out what this newborn survived—for five days.)

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