Kiran’s Fund for Pulmonary Hypoplasia Research

Thank you for visiting our fundraising page. The story below details Kiran’s story and our reasoning for selecting The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to donate to in Kiran’s memory.

After about a year of unsuccessfully trying and subsequently seeking fertility treatment, we found out in December 2020 that we were finally expecting a child. A month later, we found out we were having twins! We always wanted two and weren’t sure how we would manage this process again in a few years. Now we wouldn’t have to. Our  dreams had come true.

Although twins inherently brought a higher level of risk than one baby, the pregnancy was mostly healthy until their 20 week fetal anatomy scan in early April 2021. That’s when Kiran was diagnosed with unexplained low amniotic fluid. Four weeks later, his water broke. There was no treatment to improve his chances of survival, but the longer they stayed in utero, the better Sonu’s chances of survival. They both continued to live and kept growing for three more weeks until I went into labor at 27 weeks.

Due to the lack of fluid, Kiran’s lungs were underdeveloped and hypoplastic. When they tried to give him oxygen, it caused air leaks and there was no real way to save him without making him suffer. We had to make the awful decision that no parent should ever have to make. We decided it would be best to lay our sweet baby to rest in peace. He passed away in our arms a couple hours later. His cause of death was listed as Pulmonary Hypoplasia.

Although his chances never improved, those three extra weeks saved Sonu’s life. After a 4 month NICU stay, Sonu came home in September 2021. We miss Kiran dearly every single day, but we are forever grateful for the gift he gave us by saving his brother’s life.

We knew right away that we wanted to fund research around amniotic fluid or fetal lung development in Kiran’s memory. In our search for a research group, we realized that the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is the only institution that researches the neurodevelopmental and long term effects of conditions that cause Pulmonary Hypoplasia. As we slowly told people that this was our intent, we found that our larger community of family and friends wanted to support us and contribute to our fund. 

We thank all of you for your support and encourage you to make a tax-deductible donation to the Pulmonary Hypoplasia Program at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

R.I.P. Kiran Rangnekar DeWilde 5/22/21