From Crisis To Community.
Tilla Fuller was 30 weeks pregnant with her first daughter—a little sister for her one-year-old son. Moms with young kids know tired. But this was something else. Just a week before, Tilla had fainted in her kitchen. Anemia, they said. Common in pregnancy. Her son also had pneumonia. Life wasn’t slowing down.
So, when contractions woke her in the night, she didn’t think much of it. Not yet. Then the pain ratcheted way up.
“It was excruciating,” Tilla says. “My son was asleep beside me. I didn’t want to wake him, but I couldn’t help it. I started screaming.”
Her husband called 911. By the time the paramedics arrived, Tilla was ready to push but her water hadn’t broken. She nearly gave birth in the ambulance.
“When we got to RVH, they broke my water and Blair was out in three pushes,” she says.
Blair was 10 weeks early and RVH’s NICU team was waiting. They whisked Blair into an incubator and got to work.
With Blair taken care of, Tilla just wanted a coffee. She headed toward the food court, planning to stop by and see Blair on her way back. But as she passed the NICU, something caught her eye—Blair’s incubator surrounded by people.
“The NICU team is phenomenal. They saved Blair’s life. But imagine what they could do with more space. The hospital was built for a smaller population. That’s not our reality anymore.”
Tilla Fuller, NICU mom and grateful patient.
“That’s way too many people,” she thought. “There were eight or nine of them. All focused on Blair.” Blair was having a seizure. Bile had backed up into her feeding tube. She needed care RVH wasn’t equipped to provide.
Tilla, her husband, and baby Blair were rushed by ambulance to SickKids. They stayed until Blair could breathe on her own. Then, she came home—to RVH.
Blair spent nearly 50 days in the NICU. Fifty days of daily drives. Fifty days of breast milk drop-offs, short cuddles, and juggling a toddler at home.
Tilla is clear-eyed in her gratitude. “The NICU team is phenomenal. They saved Blair’s life. But imagine what they could do with more space. The hospital was built for a smaller population. That’s not our reality anymore.”
A larger NICU means more specialized care with fewer transfers to SickKids. More time at home. Better outcomes for families like Tilla’s.
Tilla and her family wanted to give back. They organized a community fundraiser for the NICU—raising more than $5,000.
“This was our community coming together,” says Tilla. “When we donated, we wrote the cheque in Blair’s name. One day, she’ll know—people did this for me. For other families like mine.”
Inspired by Tilla and Blair’s story?
Because of donors, more NICU babies—like Blair—get the specialized, lifesaving care they need close to home. Caring for moms and babies truly takes a village. Your generosity makes stories like this possible.
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