Plainfield family gives back in late daughter's memory

OAK LAWN ? On the 10th anniversary of her passing, a Plainfield family is honoring the memory of their late daughter by presenting a donation to help pediatric patients at Advocate Children's Hospital.

In honor of Natalie "Bug" Siemek, the Siemek family collected donations from family and friends to purchase three Wunderwagons, toy wagons specially made to give children a safe and familiar means of transportation within a hospital. The whimsical animal-shaped wagons feature a special trailer that allows a wheeled IV pole to be safely transported behind the wagon.

Family members presented the wagons to hospital representatives on March 4, at the Oak Lawn campus. A hospital chaplain blessed the wagons as part of a short ceremony with officials from the hospital and Advocate Charitable Foundation.

Called "Bug" by her family because of her small size, Natalie was born on Nov. 15, 2005, with a congenital heart defect called hypoplastic right heart syndrome. Babies suffering from this rare condition have underdeveloped structures on the right side of their heart, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood to the lungs.

Natalie underwent her first surgery at Advocate Children's Hospital when she was just a week old; she underwent open heart surgery at just four months old. She spent the next several months recovering, learning to walk and undergoing speech therapy but died at Advocate Children's Hospital on March 5, 2007, at 15 months old.

The Siemek family, which includes Natalie's parents, Dan and Carrie, and her older sisters, Emily, 15, and Audrey, 13, have kept Natalie's spirit alive with the formation of "Bug's Pals."

Every year the organization donates toys to Advocate Children's Hospital and arranges a hospital visit from Star Wars characters.