A baby in a pink onesie smiles. A man and a woman smile next to the baby, who sits in a high chair.
ADELYN’S DAD: Adelyn is a special little girl.
ADELYN’S MOM: And she came into this world fast and furious.
Adelyn's mom holds her by a lake. She smiles in a wooden chair. Adelyn's father interviews, and text appears.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Spencer Merchant
Adelyn's dad
SPENCER: We really try to find what makes her happy, healthy little one, two-year-old running around.
Adelyn's mom interviews, and text appears.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Erin Merchant
Adelyn's mom
ERIN: She was meeting all of her milestones. At 18 months, she got very, very sick. We saw her decline very, very quickly. It started with just she couldn't walk super well. And we started noticing, oh, she's falling a lot.
SPENCER: So within about a matter of a month, she had lost just about all of her abilities.
Adelyn sits on a bike.
SPENCER: Started to just jump in with doctors and talk about what we were seeing. And it was really hard to describe. And you're seeing this girl in front of you like, unfortunately, like deteriorate. You follow the doctors the best that they can and they suggest something. And you go with that and you chase something and you get to this point of like, I hope that's it.
ERIN This is the hardest journey we've ever been on. It's the hardest thing I've ever done is to watch my child suffer.
SPENCER: We struggled. We were on this diagnostic Odyssey. It was a journey. Not a good one, not a fun one. I wouldn't wish it on any other family in the world.
Text appears beside a family photo.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Spencer, a senior director at UnitedHealthcare, helps oversee the Special Needs Initiative. But when it came to his own family's journey, he learned firsthand the struggle to navigte the health care system.
Adelyn lies in a bed, hooked up to monitoring machines.
SPENCER: Just that painstakingly day by day, sometimes for other families, months and years, to get something that gives them an answer.
In a family photo, they hold Adelyn next to another baby.
SPENCER: We got a phone call from a nurse who talked about this thing called the diagnostic odyssey, and we said, yes, we are on a diagnostic Odyssey. That sounds familiar.
ERIN: They said, hey, we have this program. Would you want to do it?
SPENCER: She talked about what they could do. Good timing to help our family do something different. From there, we got connected with more people within the team that helped set United.
Erin holds Adelyn in front of a brick wall, and text appears.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Special Needs Initiative is a program that gives families of children with special needs a personal advisor to provide one-on-one support. The program works to knock down barriers for these families, including through a diagnostic journey.
Spencer holds Adelyn, and text appears.
ON SCREEN TEXT: The Diagnostic Odyssey care team helps connect families to specialized medical centers, health care experts and others for a holistic approach to help find an answer.
ERIN: Knowing that you have a team of people behind you is really, really helpful. It feels really good too.
SPENCER: That team, just like swarmed around us and it was like we knew we were going to get an answer and it took very little time.
In a living room, a green block sits on a carpeted floor beside Adelyn and Erin.
ERIN: Do you want to play with your magnetite?
SPENCER: Adelyn’s diagnosis is NMDA anti receptor encephalitis a version of encephalitis, which not only was it a rare disease, but for her age being under two. Just a very small number of kids.
ERIN: She is now fully disabled. She requires 24/7 care. She still is our special little girl. And even though she can't talk to me anymore, she still smiles and she can still laugh.
SPENCER: Every day for Adelyn is a new challenge and it pushes our family to be the best we can be. But it's so relieving to know that I don't have to take care of it all by myself.
ERIN: Having the multiple programs that are offered through UnitedHealthcare has been integral to the success of us parenting.
SPENCER: I've seen Adelyn get what she needs when she needs it because the teams are working together.
ERIN: I would say this mentality of it takes a village, becomes tenfold when you have a special needs kids. So to have any area of our life to have a weight lifted is really, really nice.
Adelyn plays with her family in the living room.
A blue u-shaped logo appears over a white background, followed by text.
ON SCREEN TEXT: United
Healthcare®
