Your support keeps children like Henry and Walter safe

(L-R) Walter and Henry

Lynzie Farbak was expecting her first son in 2018, and like many new parents, she went to a local fire department to have her infant car seat installed.

“They installed seats in my van, my fiancé’s car and my mother’s car,” explained Lynzie. “Putting car seats in can be tricky if you’ve never done it before, and we were grateful for the help.”

She and her fiancé assumed their seats were installed correctly, but Lynzie had doubts. “I thought it was moving around too much. It just seemed too loose.”

That September, Lynzie was on her way to the annual picnic for patients of Advocate Children’s Keyser Family Pediatric Cancer Center, where she works. As she was parking her van in the structure, she noticed the Advocate Children’s Hospital Car Seat Program was holding one of its Seat Check Saturday events.

“Just that morning, I’d said to my fiancé again how I thought the car seat was moving too much. It seemed like some kind of sign that I happened to stumble upon the event,” she said. “So, I decided to get the seat checked.”

Lynzie’s suspicions turned out to be correct – her seat was not installed properly.

“In fact, they told me if I’d gotten into an accident, it could have been deadly for my son. I was in complete shock and very upset,” she said.

She called her mother and asked her to come to the hospital to get her seat checked. “Sure enough, hers was wrong too. They fixed both of our seats and it made a huge difference.”

Then, a year later, Lynzie took her van into a car dealership to get the door fixed. The mechanics removed the car seats and put them back in – also incorrectly. “I immediately made an appointment with Advocate and got help reinstalling them.”

Lynzie and her fiancé now have two sons, Henry, who’s 4, and Walter, who’s 2. Ever since her experiences, she’s been a vocal supporter of the Advocate Children’s Hospital Car Seat Program.

“I tell my story and recommend the program all the time. And I’ve had every single one of our car seats installed by Advocate. I don’t trust anyone else with my children’s safety,” shared Lynzie. “I’m incredibly thankful I happened to find the seat check event that day.”

How you can help

The Advocate Children’s Hospital Car Seat Program is only possible because of the generous support of donors. To learn how you can help keep kids like Henry and Walter safe, please contact Amy Valenzio at amy.valenzio@aah.org.

To learn more about the program, visit us online. To schedule a virtual car seat check, call 708-684-7019.