A chance at life for Winter

Hi, my name is Gabriela Salas, and I’m reaching out with a heavy heart as my family faces one of the most difficult moments of our lives. My daughter, our miracle baby Winter, is 7 months old and is intubated in the CCU fighting for her life. She is loved, she is a human being, and deserves to be here. Please help us give her a fighting chance at life. She needs that one person to take that chance on her. She has unrepaired truncus arteriosus type II; without surgery to correct it, she won’t live long. She’s been in the hospital since birth. They recently discovered here at this second hospital she was transferred to, after doing a bronchoscopy, that she has severe tracheobronchomalacia. It’s getting worse for her; it’s so severe that her airway collapses with just exhaling, crying, or them simply just turning her to a different side. She gets what they call “dying spells” as the collapse is so severe. Here at this second hospital, they say no one specializes in that condition. We are currently trying to get transferred to another hospital that can do surgery to keep her airway from collapsing. In doing so, they will be able to lower her vent settings and hopefully get her towards the heart surgery she desperately needs. Everyone that knows this is our miracle baby; we yearned for her and love her so much. We have been here in Austin for two months. Our insurance doesn’t cover out of Texas, and they already paid for the airplane ride to Austin. Since they aren’t going to do any intervention here, insurance is saying they aren’t going to cover the hospital stay any longer. There’s no way we can take her out of the hospital as she is intubated and on a ventilator. To transfer her to a different hospital out of state, I will have to pay out of pocket, which we don’t have, and insurance will not cover out of Texas for hospital stay or for surgery. They tell us there’s nothing more they can do for her here and for us to take pics and make memories with her as they think she won’t make it much longer as she’s getting these “episodes” multiple times a day. As a mother, this has been unimaginably painful. While trying to stay strong for my other children, I spend every moment by Winter's side, hoping and praying for a miracle.

We’re humbly asking for your support—financially, emotionally, and spiritually. Donations will help us cover medical expenses, travel costs, and daily needs as we navigate this journey to help with the financial burden and uncertain road ahead. Most importantly, we ask for your prayers for our sweet baby girl. I know miracles exist; please help us get her to be here with us and to one day be able to take her home.

Every donation, share, and kind word means the world to us. Thank you for lifting up baby Winter and standing with the Salas family during this critical time.