HUNTLEY — Katelyn Yates, a woman from Ballantine, got the shock of her life when she was told she was pregnant with quadruplets, an estimated 1 in 700,000 chance, as the 20-year-old wasn’t being treated for infertility.
“On April 1, we found out that we were pregnant,” Yates said. “I went into the ER to get my tonsils looked at. It's actually really crazy of actually how we found out. I didn't even go in there for pregnancy.”
Her pregnancy was hard from the start. At just 14 weeks Yates said she hit rock bottom.
“My liver and kidneys started not doing so well,” she said. “We ended up at 28 weeks and four days and I knew it was time to deliver.”
But Yates was a long way from her Ballantine home, living in Illinois with her fiance. Her parents wanted to get them back to Montana before the babies came, but with the medical troubles Yates faced, the four were delivered by an emergency cesarean section on Oct. 17.
“The boys are identical, and the girls are fraternal,” Yates said.
Huntley resident Heidi Rink has never met Yates in person but knows her parents, Rodney and Deb Yates.
“I knew that they needed help. My husband and I made sure they got to Illinois,” Rink said. “They're just amazing people, just hard workers, and they would give the shirt off their back to help anyone in need.”
Rink first met the family when she hired them to help with her home after her husband had a heart attack.
"Rodney and his son, Junior, worked in the community doing dump runs, helping with yard cleanups, anything you could possibly think of," Rink said. “My husband has a heart condition, so I reached out to Rodney and they were right here.”
Now, she hopes to return the favor by raising money for the family by setting up donation jars in businesses in the Ballantine area to the Billings area.
“I'm just going to set those up around the community and hope that we can just get some funds coming in because this is going to be a really long journey,” Rink said.
Rink understands firsthand what it’s like to need support from a community.
“We were in a time of need at one time when our son was diagnosed with leukemia,” Rink said.
Knowing the community she lives in, shes confident the community will rally around Yates, her fiance and their four babies to get them back to Montana.
“I am so grateful. Like I have never met her until now. She is like a family member to me already. Like, she will always be in my heart and a family member to me,” Yates said.
