Community Corner

Benefit for Cameron Ulrich is Saturday at the Stillwater VFW

On Saturday, a benefit at the Stillwater VFW will support the Ulrich family as they continue to navigate through tough times with their 6-year-old child.

Six years ago, Cameron Ulrich as born with a congenital heart defect. Twelve days after birth he underwent pacemaker surgery.

The hope was the pacemaker would give Cameron’s heart enough time to develop and ultimately have reconstructive surgery to correct his condition. But for the past six years Cam has been in and out of the hospital—and complications continue to arise.

Despite all the prayers and doctors efforts, Cameron’s heart is not strong enough to support him anymore and he is in heart failure.

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On Saturday, a benefit at the Stillwater VFW will support Cam and his family as they continue to navigate through tough times. The event takes place from 4-8 p.m.

Click here to read Cameron’s full story on his CaringBridge site.

In August, Cameron spent three weeks in Boston having and recovering from a surgery to give him better function in hopes to perform the reconstructive surgery a few months down the line. However, the procedure in Boston did not have the outcome desired, so on Oct. 16 Cameron was transported from Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis to Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rochester to prepare for a heart transplant.

Find out what's happening in Stillwaterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Oct. 22 Cameron was placed on the heart transplant list. He continues to wait for a donor.

“We’ve known since before birth that he had a heart defect and he was very healthy until about a year ago. We’ve always thought that he’d need corrective surgery, but he started having heart failure before we could do something about it,” Cameron’s dad, Rob Ulrich told the Stillwater Gazette.

The benefit is an attempt to offset the Ulrich’s medical, lodging and travel costs.

“We just want to be able to defray some medical-related costs and not have to worry about that part of it too much,” Ulrich told the Gazette. “There’s more than enough to stress out about right now and if we can get some funds to help with medical expenses it would be a big blessing for us all.”

While Cameron is in Rochester, the Ulrichs have been commuting back and forth from the hospital to Stillwater in an effort to give Cameron’s sister, Sydney, a sense of normalcy throughout the process.

All proceeds from the benefit will go toward the Cameron Ulrich Benefit Fund. There will be a bake sale and silent auction.

If you can’t make the benefit, but would like to help you can donate to Cameron’s fund at the First Bank and Trust locations in Stillwater, Bayport and Oak Park Heights. Tickets to the event cost $15.

Contact Lisa Flach by phone at 651-492-6857 or by email at l_fredricksen@yahoo.com for more information. Supplemental dollars for Cameron's Fundraiser are being supplied by the Washington County Chapter of Thrivent Financial.


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