Mother Hopes For Donations To Be With Twins After Skull Surgery
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- Twin toddlers are scheduled for skull surgery in November. Doctors need to remove a portion of bone so the boys' brains can develop normally.
Medicaid will cover the operations, but their mother could use some help while they are recovering.
Susan Brunette is caught in a difficult situation that's not uncommon. She wants to take off from work for two weeks to be with her babies after their surgeries, but if she takes it, she won't get paid.
"It's not the same with two," Susan told CBS4's Kathy Walsh.
The Brunette twins are doubly adorable.
Susan describes first born, Hunter, as a quiet sweet boy. Maverick is suitably named.
"He crawled first, he walked first, he got teeth first," Susan explained.
They are identical, the same darling faces. And both were born with a condition called metopic craniosynostosis.
"Which means that their front soft spot has closed too early," said Susan.
She was first to notice a ridge down the twins' foreheads. At 6 months, they were diagnosed.
"It causes their brains not to be able to develop properly," Susan said.
So the brothers are scheduled for skull surgery in November to widen their foreheads. Susan says Medicaid will cover the operations, but she worries about other bills.
"I'm a waitress," she said.
She's worked for the past 11 years at Perkins. She wants to take two weeks off to care for her boys after surgery.
"We don't get any paid time off, so every day I miss at work is just unpaid," she said.
With four children total, the Brunettes need both parents' pay. Susan says she waitressed until the day the twins were born and was back on the job 10 days later.
This time, she's started a "GoFundMe" asking for $2,000. She's grateful to be less than $700 from her goal.
"It shows me that there are still some good people left in this world," she said.
Good people who understand a mother's love is the best medicine.