Raising $10,000 for charity sounds like a Herculean task but to Laura Holt, it’s a small price to pay to thank the institution that saved her child’s life not once, but twice.

Holt is collecting money for The Every Child Fund, which supports Boston Children’s Hospital.

She will be running in the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2019 as part of the hospital’s Miles for Miracles fund-raising team.

“What a great cause to donate to,” she said.

Last year, Holt’s daughter, Lucy, who turned 2 on Sept. 21, had both her heart and liver operated on at the world-renowned medical facility.

“They saved Lucy,” Laura said.

Lucy, the granddaughter of LakePoint Community Church Associate Pastor Bob Holt, was born with Mosaic Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder that caused many, but not all, of her body’s cells to have three copies of chromosome 18 instead of the usual two.

This condition can lead to a variety of potentially life-threatening health problems and developmental issues.

With little Lucy, the Mosaic Trisomy 18 caused holes to form in her tiny heart.

More than 15 holes were successfully repaired in her septum – the wall of muscle that separates the left and right sides of the heart – during a five-hour surgery performed at Boston Children’s Hospital on March 31, 2017.

Prior to that surgery, Laura, a 2002 Lake Orion High School graduate, said she and her husband, Bryan Holt, “had pretty much lost all hope that there was anything anybody could do to save our child.”

Hospitals in Michigan offered no options to actually fix the problem and give little Lucy a shot at having a future, according to Laura. Palliative surgeries and hospice care were the only choices presented to the couple.

Then one day, Dr. Christopher W. Baird, a thoracic and cardiac surgeon at Boston Children’s Hospital, called and told them he could repair all of the holes with a single surgery.

He was true to his word.

While staying in Boston, Laura said the hospital did everything it could to make them as comfortable as possible by seeing to personal needs ranging from housing to meals.

“They really supported us through the most difficult time of our lives,” she said. “They basically made this unbearable time more bearable.”

Following the surgery, the Holts thought they were out of the woods, but then they found themselves back at Boston Children’s Hospital for another big surgery.

Little Lucy was diagnosed with fetal-type hepatoblastoma, a very rare type of liver cancer. This required her to have 60 percent of her liver removed along with three malignant tumors during a nine-hour surgery.

That was followed by four rounds of chemotherapy over a 94-day period that ended in late December.

Lucy is still visiting an oncologist on a monthly basis, but Laura said there is “no evidence of the disease.”

Today, little Lucy is “doing all of the typical things a 2-year-old does,” according to her mother, from “climbing on everything” to “singing and talking up a storm.”

“She’s happy, healthy, busy, funny – everything a 2-year-old should be,” Laura said.

Given everything Boston Children’s Hospital did for little Lucy, Laura wants to give back by helping other families with kids facing serious medical issues have access to the same resources and the same love and support that her family did.

“I want them to benefit from this amazing hospital,” she said.

She believes helping The Every Child Fund is the best way to do that.

The fund supports patients’ families with housing, meal and parking vouchers, stress-relief services, support sessions and interpreters. For patients, the fund provides time with therapy dogs and music therapists, art supplies and celebrations for holidays and birthdays. The fund also benefits the pediatric research center as it seeks new treatments and cures.

To help Laura reach her $10,000 goal, please visit giving.childrenshospital.org/ and enter her name to access her fund-raising page.

Laura is also selling t-shirts she created.

The front features a drawing of an arrow with the words “Be Brave” and “#littlelucysheart.” The back has the Boston Children’s Hospital motto, “Until Every Child is Well.” T-shirts are available at www.bonfire.com under the campaign name “Little Lucy’s Heart.”