Specialist Selena Lassien - Someone You Should Know and Help

Posted By Blackfive

The guys at Pundit Review are working hard on this case - contributing time, money, and effort.  Soldiers' Angels are helping too.

There were two stories about SPC Selena Lassien in the Boston Herald today.  First, this one for background:

Fellow vets reach out to mother in need
By Peter Gelzinis
Boston Herald Columnist

Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Things, you see, didn’t start to get crazy for Selena Lassien until after she completed nine months in Baghdad as an intelligence analyst with her National Guard outfit.
    She returned to the tiny hamlet of Vinton, La., last September, just in time to be ordered out of her family’s home about a day before Hurricane Rita tore the place up.
    When the storms had passed, Selena Lassien and her boyfriend, Darrell Bias Jr., gleefully embraced the news that they were to become parents. Then, in the first few weeks of Selena’s pregnancy came a car accident, which confined her to bed for several weeks.
    By June, life had settled down to the point where this 26-year-old self-described “country girl” decided to make her first journey north to attend a cousin’s high school graduation party in Jamaica Plain.
    But two hours before flying home to Louisiana, Selena Lassien knew something wasn’t right. She contacted her pediatrician at home in Lake Charles to say she was sure she was having complications, barely five months into her pregnancy.
    “He told me to relax,” Selena recalled yesterday, “and that we’d check things as soon as I got back. But I just knew something wasn’t right.”
    Indeed, her daughter, who was then not quite 20 weeks old, was in a life-threatening hurry to be born. And after another four weeks in a special bed at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, tiny Kameryn Bias was born. She was soon transferred to Children’s Hospital, where surgeons dealt with the intricate complexities of this fragile but determined life.
<...>
Selena Lassien is destined to spend the first few months of her motherhood cradling a daughter tethered to state-of-the-art tubes and monitors.
    “You know, I long to be back home,” she said, as she stood outside the ICU, “but I know I’m very lucky to have had Kameryn here. People have been so wonderful to me, so wonderful. I’m a country girl from the South who never would have expected such warmth and such kindness.”

We won't know how long SPC Lassien will have to stay in Boston. Her daughter, Kameryn, at 6 weeks, weighs just 2 pounds and has undergone surgery on her heart and intestines. We're trying to get people to reach out and help this "country girl for the South." 

You can help too.  Donations can be made to Soldiers’ Angels, Care of SPC Selena Lassien, 1150 N. Loop 1604 W., Suite 108-493, San Antonio, TX 78248, (615) 676-0239.

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Comments

[Kevin Whalen]

Thanks for letting all the great readers of Blackfive know about Selena's situation. I met with her last night and she is a wonderful person, dealing as well as could be expected with her difficult situation.

She went to Iraq for me, the least I can do is help her when she is alone and struggling in my hometown.

Please consider stepping up for Selena, she and her baby face a long recovery here in Boston. Luckily for both of them, Boston has the world's best neonatal care. I know, my daughter was born in 7-weeks early in a Boston hospital four years ago this weekend.

Kevin

[Rosemary]

I have posted about this, thanks to you and Pundit Review. Here is the link: http://dodnews.blogspot.com/2006/08/real-hero-you-should-you-know-and-help.html.

Thank you, Matt, for all you continue to do. You were great last night. :)

[Laurie Forman]

Kevin,

I just sent a card to Selena at the Jamaica Plain address I was given last week. Not sure if she is still there or not.

I included my home phone and email address for Selena to use as I am just South of Boston and very familiar with Childrens Hospital.

If you could pass along my email address to her, my family is willing to assist her with any needs she might have while in Boston. We would be happy to be a host family for her.

If you email me privately, I can send you my home phone.

Thanks!