Children Services seeks help to build addition for little liver recipient Jamie

Staff report

VIENNA

Trumbull County Children Services recently has identified an adoptive family for Jamie, 5, the little girl who received a lifesaving liver donation last year, and her brother, Jeremiah, 7.

Jamie’s health has improved, her body has fully accepted the liver and a forever family from Vienna Township has fallen in love with Jamie and Jeremiah, according to Children Services.

The family already has custody of Jamie and Jeremiah’s two other siblings and awaits the adoption process to be completed for Jamie and Jeremiah.

The couple also has two biological children, one of whom is a young adult, making a family of eight.

Jamie, who received a liver donation from David Denovchek of Niles, has to return to her Pittsburgh doctor only once a year, CSB reports.

Jamie is taller, no longer bloated and has started kindergarten, the agency says.

But the family’s three-bedroom home is not large enough to comply with state adoption rules regarding bed space, room requirements and the prohibition against adult children being allowed to sleep in a bedroom with foster or adoptive children, CSB says.

The adoptive family includes a firefighter dad and a mom who is administrator of a pre-school.

At least two additional bedrooms and a bathroom need to be added to their home before Jamie and Jeremiah can move in, CSB says. Andy Bednar and the staff of the architectural firm Baker Bednar Snyder and Associated donated the blueprints for an addition, but it will cost at least $85,000 to construct.

“We are turning to the community and beyond to help us reach our goal. We want these children home by Christmas,” said Marilyn Pape, CSB’s director of out-of-home services.

Donations can be made through the crowdfunding website www.YouCaring.com/HomeForJamieAndJeremiah or directly to Talmer Bank, 2001 Elm Road NE in the Elm Road Plaza, which will become Chemical Bank on Nov. 14. The account is named “A Home for Jamie and Jeremiah.”