Run to help a local 2-month-old suffering rare birth defects - East Idaho News
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Run to help a local 2-month-old suffering rare birth defects

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REXBURG — An Upper Valley couple has experienced an emotional rollercoaster the last few months as they’ve watched their new daughter suffer rare medical conditions.

Rexburg couple Jennifer and Jarek Smith just had their first child Gabriella Smith on July 20. Doctors diagnosed her with a series of birth defects– Omphalocele, Exstrophy, Imperforate anus, Spinal defects, or OEIS Complex.

Baby Gabby is missing a right kidney and her right leg didn’t form correctly from the knee down, her large intestines don’t meet with her rectum, and she has spina bifida which means part of her spinal chord is exposed through her backbone.

“A lot of her internal organs grew on the outside of her body,” AvantGuard Monitoring Services spokeswoman Angélique Smith said. “She’s going to have a series of surgeries to try and correct those problems.”

Baby Gabby has already undergone two surgeries, and will have a neurosurgery to correct her spina bifida next week.

To help baby Gabby and her family, Rexburg Company AvantGuard Monitoring Services has organized a 5K fun run/walk.

“My husband and I were very surprised when AvantGuard Monitoring contacted us about potentially doing the 5K for Gabby. We feel so grateful to them for choosing our baby. We know how much work goes into putting on an event like this,” Gabby’s mother Jennifer Smith told EastIdahoNews.com.

Each year the AvantGuard Cares Foundation reaches out to a family with a child suffering from a medical condition and donates funds to aid in their healing.

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Courtesy Photo

“We try to just find a local child in the community that’s struggling with something, an illness or a disease, something that we can raise money (for) through our 5K and then donate the money to the family,” Angélique Smith said.

Smith said they hope to raise at least $3,500 for Gabby. So far AvantGuard has signed up 129 runners and has over $2,000 raised for Baby Gabby.

“It’s just a great way for people to do an act of service and get to come out, get a little exercise,” Smith said. “I know for employees, they look forward to it every year. It’s great opportunity for them to get out and give a little bit back to somebody,” Angélique Smith said.

The third annual fun run/walk will be held at Evergreen Park in Rexburg on Saturday Oct. 8. The event starts at 9:30 a.m. To sign up go to AvantGuard’s registration page, or find the event on Facebook.

To donate to Gabby’s existing GoFundMe go to her official page.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better community in which to live at this difficult time in our lives,” Jennifer Smith said.

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