ART45
AMYCHRISTIAN
Mending Milo’s Heart
Spur of the moment benefit for the infant of a local family just keeps growing
Julie Menger visits son Milo in the hospital; a limited edition print of a Luna album cover (below), signed by the artist and band members, is just one of the items up for auction this Thursday. Rich and Julie Menger were excited about their 20-week sonogram. The Augusta couple, who already had two boys at home, were going to find out whether they were going to have another or were going to add a girl to the mix. “We were super excited because his was the visit we were to find out the sex of the baby,” Rich said via Facebook message from Atlanta. “So a boy! We are thrilled to add another Menger to our home, but the news of a possible Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome was the second news the doctor gave us.” It turns out baby Milo Emerson Menger, born August 29 at Egleston Children’s Hospital in Atlanta, did indeed have HLHS, a defect in which the left side of the heart does not develop as it should. “We hoped maybe they were wrong, but three doctors and hours of level 2 sonograms later it was confirmed: HLHS,” Rich said. “It was then we began our journey to mend Milo’s heart.” Treatment includes at least three surgeries, the first of which Milo underwent Tuesday, September 6. Rich said the approximately eight-hour surgery went better than expected. “They’re all finished now and they were actually able to close his chest,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “A lot of V. 22 | NO. 55
times they have to leave it open due to swelling, but Milo once again exceeded all expectations!” The fact that Julie and Rich have been in Atlanta, staying in the Ronald McDonald House for the most part, coupled with the fact that their other two children are home in Augusta with family, prompted their friends to action. “I’m a financial person, so that was the first, well the second, thing I thought of,” said Veronica Mulkey, coordinator of A Benefit for Milo Thursday night. “Just thinking about the emotional burden of having to deal with this and then, of course, I thought about how much money this is going to cost them out of pocket. That’s something you shouldn’t have to worry about when you’re dealing with such an emotional situation.” Rich is a Richmond County firefighter, as well as a well-known local artist and an avid cyclist; Julie is a stay-at-home mom, a volunteer with the Le Leche League and a retired member of the Soul City Sirens roller derby team. So Mulkey, who met Julie through roller derby, thought that their friends and acquaintances would be generous if only they knew what was going on. “And then Rich, being involved in the art community and having ties to a bunch of people in the community with music, having run Squeaky’s [Tip Top]
back in the day, there’s so many people who know them who, if they knew what they were going through, they would want to help.” And help they have. Since Mulkey and
friends had the idea of a silent auction, people have come out of the woodwork to donate. Many are Rich’s artist friends — Jay Jacobs, Leonard Zimmerman, Chris Murray, Jason Craig, Staci Swider,
METRO SPIRIT 9.8.11 39