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Special Assignment: Playroom of Hope

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A family that suffered an unimaginable loss now wants to turn that tragedy into hope for other Wisconsin families, and you can help.

When little Nevaeh Wallace was born last year, her parents knew she had a heart disorder called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. It used to be a death sentence. Now, some hospitals can correct it with several surgeries. The Wallaces had great hope for Nevaeh.

She sailed through one surgery, then another. We have video from her family in Stoughton that shows a laughing, loving little girl who adored her sister and brothers.

Then last April, tragedy struck.

"We were playing in the bedroom and I picked her up because we were just going to go into the kitchen and she had just been crawling around and seconds later, she was gone," Jamie Wallace told us tearfully.

Before her death, Nevaeh spent weeks at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa. Those stays split the family apart. Mom and dad would be in Wauwatosa, the rest of the family with grandma at home. Visits to the hospital were tough for everyone.

Now, the Wallaces want to make hospital stays a little easier for every family at Children's Hospital.

They've planned a huge playroom for siblings of patients at the hospital.

Dad Matt Wallace explained why it's so important to do something now, and turn their grief into something positive. "It rips families apart and if we can just make something a little easier, a place a safe place where siblings can come and play, I don't know," he paused. Then he took a deep, obviously painful breath. "We have to do something to get our mind off of how horrible we feel inside."

Jamie Wallace shares that unspeakable pain. "People say it's so good you have other kids and it is a wonderful blessing and it gets you up every day and it's so hard to watch your kids grieve and leave someone that they loved so much."

Jamie told us her kids also feel the need to do something to help the family recover.

"To be able to go to a place that we knew would remind us of Nevaeh, just be able to work together and get our whole family through something that's really hard and maybe it will be a really healing experience for us all," Jamie explained.

It is a huge undertaking. The playroom will cost $300,000, money the Wallaces hope to raise through donations. Clearchannel Outdoors donated space on a dozen billboards to get the message out.

Maggie Butterfield is in charge of family services at Children's Hospital. She applauds what the Wallaces are doing and said a playroom would be a huge gift.

"It's important for those kids to have the same opportunity to go someplace to be a kid, to be able to play, maybe it's so intense in the patient room at that time it doesn't feel comfortable for the healthy brother or sister," Butterfield said. "Just to feel some sense of normalcy, in an atmosphere where normal went out the window a while ago," she added.

The playroom will also help the Wallace family. "It gives us something to hope for it's a light in the middle of darkness right now and we really hope it will change people's lives," Matt said quietly.

If you would like to learn more about the playroom or make a donation, go to the Playroom of Hope's Web site.

 

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