Maddie Reiman learned in the summer before her freshman year in college that she was pregnant. She immediately connected with Fremont Sixpence, a Nebraska Children and Families Foundation initiative, and, within 3 weeks, met her coordinator, Lauren Stoklas. She calls Lauren her “biggest cheerleader, my go-to gal.” When Maddie was pregnant, Sixpence introduced her to a local therapist and facilitated difficult conversations with her child’s father about parenting.
When her son Jeter was born, he was diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic disorder called mandibulofacial dystosis with microcephaly (MFDM). Maddie says her coordinator continued to support her by learning all she could about the disorder. Maddie says, “I don’t think I would be the parent I am today if it weren’t for Lauren supporting me and giving me the Sixpence community.” It was hard to make “mom friends” in college, she explains. “I would see other Sixpence parents out in Fremont and that was comforting to me.”
Sixpence Vice President Stephanni Renn asked Maddie to write a book about Jeter for the new Nebraska Growing Readers program supported by Sixpence , which resulted in Rare is Beautiful. In June of 2024, Maddie and Jeter were able to attend an MFDM conference at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and were provided with copies of the book to distribute there. She says the children were excited to see in the book someone who looked like them and that parents she met at the conference still send pictures of their children reading the book.
Looking at the book was the first time Maddie ever heard Jeter say his name. Because he struggles with speech as part of his disorder, book reading has been an important connection between mother and son. During their first reading of Rare is Beautiful, Jeter opened it, saw himself, and “pointed to the page, saying, ‘Jeter,’ Jeter.’”
Sixpence’s work with Maddie then not only provided her with support as a teen mother and subsequently with Jeter’s disorder but, thanks to NGR, helped her build a local and international community.
