Friday, March 17, 2017

After Heartbreaking Loss, A Carroll Gardens Family Needs Our Help

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Sara Porter and Dominic Gillette of Carroll Gardens with their two older boys
 Sara with her two older boys
Sara and Dominic in happier times at Abilene
Newborn Jonas.
(photo credit: The Gillette family)

I just donated to the Sara Porter Go-Fund-Me page and am asking all my Carroll Gardens neighbors to please do the same.
Yesterday, I heard through a good friend that a family father on Luquer Street lost his young beautiful wife just a few days after she gave birth to their third child.
During this time of unbearable sorrow for this family, we can, as a community, come together to lighten their burden by helping to ensure that the children's future needs are provided for.

Here is their heartbreaking story as told on the Go-Fund-Me page
"On Monday March 13th, Sara Porter, devoted wife to Dominic Gillette, and loving mother to Mateo (4), Luca (2), and newborn Jonas passed away. This fund is for the “Gillette Boys” - a term Sara lovingly used.

Shortly after giving birth to their third beautiful boy, Jonas on Wednesday, March 8th, Sara contracted an extremely rare bacterial infection. Sara fought hard but within days she succumbed to the infection.

Sara was an amazing wife and mother who dedicated her life to her family, raising the boys, and providing them with a loving home. This is an incomprehensible, unexpected loss for Dominic and the boys and to everybody who knew her and loved her. Sara’s kindness was known the moment you met her and her beautiful smile will stay with us always.

Sara will always be the love of Dominic’s life and he will do everything to continue without her but he needs all of us to be there for him."


The page was set up by family friends Bill and Holly. They mentioned that Dominic would never ask for help on his own, but this represents such a catastrophic loss for him and his boys, that every little contribution will help immensely.
So Carroll Gardens, let us unite around Dominic, Mateo, Luca and Baby Jonas and show our support.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very tragic but I don't understand why she died of sepsis? I hope they sue.
I hope people help them. I will. Thanks for sharing this news.

Anonymous said...

This is a horrible tragedy to be sure, and my heart goes out to the family. But what reason do we have to believe the family is in financial need? Tragedies like this occur all the time, and it seems to me that community-based charitable endeavors should be focused on those families that need the most help. Is this one of those families?

Katia said...

Anon,
Regardless of the family's income or financial need, one can imagine that there will be unexpected and future costs associated with losing one parent. Childcare alone will be expensive over the next few years for a father of three, who has lost his partner.
Of course, you may donate or choose not to. That is up to you. For my part, I helped as I could, knowing that this family lives right here in our neighborhood and will appreciate knowing that they are not facing this tragedy entirely on their own.

Yodomino said...

Thank you for running my story. Here I am at 4am, can't sleep with Sara on my mind. She was truly the best mama and wife a person could ever ask for. I intrduced her to our incredible neighborhood in 2005 and she instantly fell in love with it. We've lived together since 2006 on Luquer St. To answer your question anonymous...
This loss is something you could ever imagine. Sara was the best...kind, gentle and just cool. We were just two people from Detroit that met in NY and fell in love. I have three beautiful boys to take of. I'm not well off, I have a good job but, this is a life changer. I really appreciate you running my story. My communities have really stepped up! Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus and Red Hook. I appreciate all you have done from diapers to breast milk Brooklyn is standing up for us!

Erica said...

I just read about the Porter family'so heartbreaking tragedy and would like to help. I live locally in Brooklyn and I too work in the film/TV industry. I am a breastfeeding mama and would be happy to donate breast milk if the father wishes. Please contact me at ericaantjes12@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

This is a terrible story and my heart goes out to this family. As I father myself, I cannot imagine losing my wife in this way (or in any way). I do not pass judgment on the Go Fund Me page or fundraising in general for this type of tragedy. It does, however, highlight the need for EVERY parent to have life insurance in place. Term life insurance is cheap, and a good insurance broker will work with you to determine how much insurance you will need to replicate your lifetime earnings should something happen to you.

Anonymous said...

Hey do u still need milk?

Jaci Kessler said...

Hi, I also live on Luquer St and have a 7 month old boy. I was going to stop pumping soon but would continue for your newborn if you are still accepting milk donations. I would love to help you out in any way that I can. Please contact me: dearjaci@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Hi Dominic
I am a mother of two little girls. We had our second daughter around the time of Jonas birth. I have an over production of milk. We are running out of storage for my breast milk - our refrigerator freezer is full as well as our deep freezer. If you are still in need of breast milk, please get back to me. I breastfed my 2 year old until she self stopped at 21 months.
My deepest thoughts with you and your family! As a mother, I just cannot imagine what sorrow you must be going through.
Prncsmo@gmail.com