Courage for Katerina

Baby Katerina was born July 30th 2018 with a rare and severe congenital heart defect that was never detected until after she was born.  Her condition is called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome whereby the left side of her heart never developed in utero.  The left side of the heart is responsible for pumping blood to the entire body so she needed immediate intervention just 48 hours after her birth.  Katerina was rushed to the NICU her second day of life and underwent her first surgery at 6 days old.   She will remain in the ICU for the next 4-8 weeks and will hopefully be allowed to come home while she awaits her next surgery.  She will require a total of three surgeries in order to survive.  Within the next four to six months, Katerina will undergo her second surgery and will require constant medical attention and monitoring from now through the first year of her life.  Her third surgery will take place when she is around 3 years of age.  Although Katerina will always have only half a heart, doctors say she will be able to lead a healthy normal life following the final surgery.

In her very short life, Katerina has already overcome tremendous obstacles and continues to amaze her doctors and family with her tenacity and courage.  She faces a very long road to recovery but has many people who love her very much and are praying for her to be able to come home to be with her family soon!  Katerina has two older brothers, Alex and Dimitri, who can't wait to have their baby sister at home.  And we, her Mom and Dad, are praying for the day our family can be together under one roof.

We live in Parker, Colorado and were very fortunate to live near one of the two hospitals in the country who specialize in these surgeries. These funds will help tremendously with the extensive medical bills, at home medical care and maintenance of the household while we will be caring for Katerina and performing daily monitoring of her weight, oxygen saturations, heart rate, blood pressure and strict feeding regimen. Katerina will need us by her side throughout her long recovery along with the help of many specialists including a team of cardiologists, pediatricians, cardiac nurses and her surgeon.  

If you are able, we ask that you graciously donate to help ease the financial burden so that Katerina’s family and care team can focus exclusively on her health and recovery.