Nov. 4th, 2003 - Feb. 12th, 2004

Orianna Christine Blissmer Memorial Fund

Orianna Christine Blissmer Memorial Fund, helping patients and their families in the PICU & DNCC units at Doernbecher Children's Hospital

Orianna Christine Blissmer was born Tuesday, November 4, 2003 at 6:22 p.m. She weighed five pounds 12 ½ ounces and 19 inches in length. She had big beautiful eyes and brown hair. Orianna was also born with a very severe heart condition, Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return and Dextrocardia, it involved a heart that only had one ventricle and unattached veins. She was also born with Asplenia, Situs Inversus and Malrotation. Orianna's first operation happened when she was three days old and in her short but extremely important life she had two and a half more surgeries and a Cardiac Catheterization.

Through it all, until the end, Orianna was very animated, strong, beautiful and stubborn. You could tell how much she loved her mom, dad, and brother. Look at her pictures and she is focusing on one of them; Stef, Rob, or Cody. When Orianna let us and the doctors know that it was time for her to go; there was time to read, sing, and to be with her when she left us for heaven.

Orianna is survived by her mom, Stefanie, proud dad Rob, and the best big brother ever, Cody. There are also many relatives and friends who Orianna touched with her courage and strength.

After Orianna died, Stefanie (being the practical woman that she is and at the hospital every day) noticed that when parents needed to stay at the hospital with out advanced warning, there were no toiletry articles that were easily accessible. She also noticed that Orianna loved to listen to music and there weren't many c.d. players or music for the babies to listen to in the DNCC. She also noticed that kids, especially sick ones, could use a little treat now and then, or their siblings could.  Stefanie also noticed that the hospital had really rough Kleenex and all of us that were there knew just how many tissues one person could go through. The first thing Stefanie and Rob did after Orianna's Memorial was to bring boxes of soft Kleenex for parents and loved ones of ill children.

At Christmas time, Stefanie realized that Santa needed to come and visit the infants. So her Pastor, Frank, from Holladay Park Church of God found Santa and all of the babies were able to spend Christmas with Santa while in the Neonatal Care Center unit at Doernbecher. The babies, siblings and their parents all had their picture taken with Santa. Stefanie played the Easter Bunny this year, the babies and their siblings were able to get their picture taken with the bunny, and all were given stuffed Easter animals. It was a wonderful afternoon.

The Orianna Christine Blissmer Memorial Fund is what Stefanie, Rob, Cody, Auntie Sue, and others are doing to help families with children who are patients at Doernbecher. The idea is to supply items that are needed by the families. This accomplishes two things. One is to provide items that will hopefully make the patients and their families stay at the hospital more comfortable. The second is to have Orianna's memory continue by assisting others. The excellent team of Doctors, Nurses, orderlies, receptionists, and pretty much every one connected with the hospital continually went above and beyond what was expected of them in caring for Orianna. Because of these people, our time and Orianna's time at Doernbecher Children's, although ending in heartbreak, was filled with compassion and care.

The Orianna Christine Blissmer Memorial fund began on February 14, 2004, the day of her Memorial. A part of Orianna's legacy will be to provide items that are practical and helpful to families during their time of need.