Our Stories
the history of Reviv & the stories of our families
Reviv began out of love, but more importantly out of necessity.
The founder of Reviv, Maria Dunlap, and her husband welcomed their daughter, Vivian, into the world on July 24, 2012. A short 59 days later they held Vivian for the last time.
Throughout Vivian’s diagnosis and hospitalization the Dunlap’s received endless support from family and friends. Meals every night, someone to stay with Viv once a week at the hospital so they could rejuvenate, and always a shoulder to cry on. As a result they were able to be fully present for Viv, learning her care, loving her for a lifetime in those 59 days.
They quickly realized that their presence was the exception. It wasn’t that other parents didn’t want to be next to their child, the demands life required of them outside the hospital just didn’t stop. They left the hospital devastated that their arms were empty, but Maria’s heart was full of the need to do something.
To fulfill that need, Reviv started to meet families as close to their child’s diagnosis as possible and work with them and the child’s care team to give personalized practical and emotional care for families in order to walk beside them when their child is diagnosed with a life-limiting or life-altering illness. Reviv focuses care in four key levels of support: Family and Sibling, Hospital, Home and Bereavement.
It’s been 8 years since Vivian has died, but over 6,000 families have received support during some of their scariest moments because of Reviv. We are thankful for the opportunity to continue to bridge gaps, build community and bring hope to families for years to come.
days of love
years of support
families helped
Our Families
The Newman Family
My husband and I have been a therapeutic foster/adoptive family for 5 years. We have adopted 2 medical needs children and fostered 36 children. We have an older daughter that just graduated nursing school. Our children at home are RyLee, Ryder, Bradyn, Landyn and Kolsyn.
Ryder was born at 21 weeks gestation. He came to live with us when he was 3 years old. He has bronchial pulmonary dysplasia, cerebral palsy, autism, reactive attachment disorder, chronic lung disease and a gtube.
Ryder has come a long way since he has been in our home. We adopted Ryder in 2017. Ryder turned 8 this year.
Bradyn came to live with us when he was 4. He has a global anoxic brain injury, scoliosis, cerebral palsy, quadriplegia, restrictive lung disease and a gtube. Bradyn will turn 7 next month. He was adopted in 2019.
RyLee is 9, Landyn 3, and Kolsyn 3 months. We are an active family and try to live life to the fullest. The boys require many trips to Cincinnati for appointments and surgeries. We are extremely grateful for any support we can get. Your support allows us to continue to help our kids and others.
“Reviv is an amazing organization! My family was sent to Cincinnati shortly after my daughter’s birth. With Ronald McDonald being closed because of COVID, me and my wife would’ve been sleeping in our car while my daughter was in the NICU.”
William Mowery
The Koslowski Family
When the doctors told us that there was no program in our big state of Michigan to help Olivia and that we needed to be referred to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, we were overwhelmed.
Our first priority was to find a place to stay so that Olivia would be comfortable after her outpatient testing for that first visit. Plan A didn’t work out so we were going to call around to some hotels. That day, I needed to go to our basement for the first time in a few days and found out it had flooded from our sump pump. I had to pack up the kids to leave so the first of many contractors could come over. We were leaving for Cincinnati in a few days and to say we were stressed was an understatement.
That same night, Tricia called. She told us our family had been referred to Reviv and that she would take care of our hotel. In that moment, it was a huge weight lifted from us. It was a light in the dark and a sign of hope for us to continue in this journey.
The hotel was perfect, quiet, clean and near the hospital. Olivia had some complications after the first test and we were so incredibly thankful she had, as she put it, “the comfiest bed ever” to relax in. We are so grateful for Reviv and the organization will always be a special part of our memories of Olivia’s journey.
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