After infant's death, family sets up nursing scholarship in her honor


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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah family is turning grief into goodwill following the death of their 7-week-old daughter.

Earlier this year, Michael and Natasha Rutkowski were excited to welcome their second child and first daughter.

At a routine third-trimester ultrasound, however, doctors found a few abnormalities and were concerned with the baby's response to fetal testing.

That same day, doctors rushed Natasha into an emergency Caesarean section and their daughter, Aria, was born at Orem Community hospital five and a half weeks early.

As Natasha recovered in Orem, Aria was flown to Primary Children's Hospital where more specialized help was available for the baby. Natasha needed to spend four days at Orem Community Hospital to recover from the C-section.

That first night alone without her daughter was extremely hard, Michael said, but the nurses at OCH went the extra mile to comfort the distressed mother.

“Natasha had a wonderful nurse that stayed with her for much of that night to support her and cry with her,” Michael said. “I know that went above and beyond the usual scope of a nurse's responsibilities, and made a huge impact on Natasha.”

That extra level of care would follow the Rutkowskis throughout their time at the hospital with Aria.

"We didn't know at the time if Aria would survive long enough for her mommy to meet her," Michael said. "But the nurses taking care of her mother provided exceptional physical and emotional care during her recovery until she was reunited with her daughter."

The Rutkowskis hope the scholarship named for their daughter will help nurses pay for school and serve as a way to keep the memory of their daughter alive. (Photo: Courtesy of the Rutkowskis)
The Rutkowskis hope the scholarship named for their daughter will help nurses pay for school and serve as a way to keep the memory of their daughter alive. (Photo: Courtesy of the Rutkowskis)

Aria lived for seven weeks. Following the death of their daughter, the Rutkowskis were searching for a way to thank the nurses who attended to the family during Aria's hospital stay. They decided to start a scholarship in her name for prospective nurses.

"During Baby Aria's life many people offered to send us flowers or money to help with medical bills," Michael said. "We asked that people instead contribute to this scholarship fund once we were ready to get it going."

Since the scholarship fund went online Sept. 1, the Rutkowskis have raised more than $15,000. response has been overwhelming, Michael said.

“We really didn’t expect to raise so much money so quickly,” he said. “We've only had the page up for a week and a half and we're closing in on 95 percent of the funding goal. We just didn't expect things to come together that fast.”

A minimum contribution of $25,000 to a Utah state educational institution's endowment pool is required to endow an ongoing scholarship, he said.

News about the scholarship spread through social media in a matter of days, Michael said.

“It's been really inspiring to see the different people from different times in our lives care enough to put some money in to the scholarship fund,” Michael said. “We've had people that we haven't seen since elementary school and middle school contribute and let us know they're thinking of us and praying for us.”

The money will go towards tuition for prospective nurses. The Rutkowskis hope it will serve as a way to keep the memory of their daughter alive.

“The truth is, we're trying to do some good, but in a selfish way because we want Aria's name to live on through this scholarship, and really have a greater purpose," Michael said. "When we started to realize the amount of challenges she had physically and that she might not be with us for long, it was really tempting to suffer and feel down, but we felt to really honor our daughter we needed to do something that mattered, and as we considered how incredible her nurses were, the idea of the scholarship for nursing students just made sense.”

Michael said his family was impressed on so many occasions by the skilled nursing staff at Primary Children's Hospital and Orem Community Hospital.

“Every nurse that took care of Aria was wonderful, but she had two primary nurses that spent the most time with her and that we know loved her very much,” Michael said. “We've kept in touch with both nurses, and they check in on us from time to time to make sure that we're OK, even though we aren't formally under their care.”

For more information about the Aria Rutkowski Nursing Scholarship* visit www.gofundme.com/arianursingscholarship.


*KSL.com has not verified the accuracy of the information provided with respect to the account nor does KSL.com assure that the monies deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

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