Maricopa’s baby Reiley is now Baby Idol

Reiley Lake of Maricopa has won a local radio station’s Baby Idol competition, bringing her family $2,000 closer to being able to pay for medical bills and related travel expenses, with a little something extra to set aside.

The nearly 2-year-old toddler also won a $500 savings bond from Mix 96.9 FM.

Her father, John Lake, entered her in the contest in March. She was one of 400 babies in the contest which featured a Web page filled with photos of each entrant. Voting was as easy as clicking on the image of the baby of one’s choice.

“It was narrowed down to 200, then 50, and today she was anoucned the winner live on the air,” her mother, Susan Lake, said Monday. “Now, John entered her in, which is so not my husband, but he was hoping that she would win so it would be additional monies for her medical care.”

Reiley suffers from a rare disorder which docotors have yet to diagnose. Problems with eating mean her family must feed her using a G-tube. She also needs speech and occupational therapy and other medical treatments throughout each week. The next step appears to be taking her to specialists out of state, a costly proposition for a family already struggling to make ends meet.

Winning Baby Idol is one more way to help Reiley get the care she needs, in addition to a benefit golf tournament scheduled for next month and a rummage sale the child’s mother staged at Pima Butte Elementary School one Saturday last month.

“It was very exciting,” Susan Lake said, adding that she posted frequent reminders on the inmaricopa.com forum to encourage people to vote for Reiley in Baby Idol. “We got a lot of support from everyone in Maricopa.”

Submitted photo