Mimi and John McDonald knew before their daughter Mia was born that she had a congenital heart defect and would need a transplant. When Mia was 4 months old, Mimi said they got their miracle–a donor heart.
Four years later Mia qualified for a Make-a-Wish trip to Disney World to see her idol: Minnie Mouse. When they were in Florida, things went tragically wrong.
“When kids that have transplants, they kind of run like they have a cold because they're immunosuppressed," said Mimi. "And she seemed fine but we took her in just to check on things and then it was just this series of super unfortunate events and misdiagnoses. And it was just, it was just awful. It was really sad and really awful. And she didn't end up coming home with us. And she was great before we left, and it was very tragic.”
Mimi said life was “debilitating and painful and isolating and awful” for a long time after Mia’s death. During one of her darkest moments, another mom posed a perspective-changing question: “So this little girl who brought you so much joy and happiness–you’re going to allow her legacy to be that she destroyed her mother?”
Mimi said this woman challenged her in only the way that an “angel bump” could.
“And that stayed with me and, and over the years, I've tried really hard to build this legacy surrounding Mia’s love and how much love she gave to everyone," she said. "Mia was just really unique in that she just was happy and loving to everyone. And so that was our motivation for our nonprofit.”
Love4Mia is a 501(c)(3) organization that helps people change their hearts by providing services and financial support for medically-challenged children and bereaved families. The nonprofit does charity work for local hospitals and two days of service each year: Mia’s birthday July 8 and her “angel day” Oct. 8, the day she passed.
For the first time, Love4Mia will host a free retreat for bereaved mothers on Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. at River Bottoms Ranch in Midway. People can register at Love4Mia.org.
“And so it's taken a long time for me, but I wanted to have somewhere that mothers that are newer on their journey of the loneliness and thinking 'how do people survive,' have a place or a collection of people. And they can see a demographic of women that are doing it, that are living, that are carrying on with their lives and finding joy.”
Mia would now be 15 years old. And Mimi hopes that by hosting this retreat, that she can now be that angel bump for another mom who needs it.
