Community rallies around unborn baby needing surgery right after birth

Sara Jamison is the kind of boss who will leave her employees a kind note with some dark chocolate on a hard day.

And even though she’s a business owner – of downtown shop Terra Shepherd Boutique & Apothecary – she’s also the one who will pitch in with neighborhood trash cleanup events, voter registrations and fundraisers to help those in need.

She’s the kind of mom to do it all while pregnant.

But this helper now needs some help.

Jamison and her husband, Brent, learned last fall that their unborn son has a complex congenital heart defect. He’ll need surgery within a few days of his birth, and there’s no one in Sioux Falls who can do it.

Faced with the choice of airlifting her hours-old son or giving birth in Omaha, Jamison went to Omaha.

Suddenly, she became the person who needed help, and the community was right there, ready to lend a hand.

“We are lucky to be in a community that loves really hard and takes care of other people,” Jamison said.

In the past week, a GoFundMe set up by Terra Shepherd’s team of two employees raised more than $6,500 to help the Jamison family cover medical expenses and travel for Brent and 3-year-old Henry to visit Jamison in Omaha every chance they get.

Customers have offered to come in and help tag merchandise or run the counter as Jamison manages the business from one state over, and vendors have donated proceeds to help support the family.

“The support from this community has been like nothing I have seen before,” said Terra Shepherd employee Tuesday Vander Weide, who set up the GoFundMe page last week.

The goal is to reach $10,000. You can contribute here.

It’s a testament to the adage “It takes a village,” said Kadyn Wittman, who helped with the GoFundMe page and works part time at the downtown boutique.

Jamison has spent years bringing her strengths into the Sioux Falls community, Wittman said.

“All of that goodwill and effort she has poured into other individuals and their organizations is now coming back to her,” she added.

Baby Jamison could come any day now. He’s 37 weeks along, and Jamison is staying close to the Children’s Hospital in Omaha, ready for immediate intervention for her baby boy after birth.

The waiting game is tough.

“As a parent and business owner, I’m so conditioned and programmed to take action and to find solutions, but I can’t do that now,” Jamison said. “Everything is at this point out of our hands, and we have to put all of our trust into our doctor and into our faith.”

It’s not easy to ask for help, she said. But she’s learning that it’s OK.

“We don’t have to do it ourselves,” she said. “It’s been humbling but a good lesson. … It’s OK to accept help and to ask for help. I know it’ll be an important reminder for me going forward.” –

Update: Charlie Jamison was born Wednesday morning in Omaha, weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and a length of 20.25 inches, Jamison said in an Instagram post. Both mom and baby are stable and doing great, she said.