On August 20th, 2019 sweet baby Kinsley Swartz was born to my amazing brother Kyle and sister in law Iris, joining big brothers Johnny and Ethan.  Everyone was overjoyed by her arrival but happiness and joy quickly became fear and heartache. Baby Kinsley was born with Pulmonary Stenosis. Pulmonary Stenosis is a congenital defect that effects 1% of infants . It occurs due to improper development of the pulmonary valve in the heart in the first 8 weeks of fetal development. Fortunately Kinsley was diagnosed instantly at the time of birth.  

The day after she was born she was flown by helicopter  8 hours from El Paso to the children's hospital in San Antonio to have her first surgery. She spent the first 11 days of her life in the PICU recovering from surgery and was discharged on Aug 31. Kyle and Iris stayed in San Antonio with her the entire time while the boys were cared for by Iris's loving family.  She has spent the last couple months seeing her cardiologist and numerous doctors. Test after test to make sure her valve was working properly. Unfortunately, she is requiring another surgery however this time it will be open heart. She will be traveling with her Mom and Dad back to San Antonio on March 19th to have her open heart surgery on her Dad's birthday on March 20th. Kinsley  also has a ventricular septal defect (vsd) which is a hole in the heart. The hole is to big so they will fix that and the stenosis at the same time. She will require a 2-3 week or more hospital stay and because of the length of the trip home will have to be flown back to El Paso when she is released.

Kyle and Iris will be with Kinsley for her entire stay no matter the length and will be taking the time off from work. Kyle and Iris are true American heroes, Iris is an elementary teacher and Kyle is a border patrol agent. Their travel expenses will include air plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental car and meals, all while having to cover the expenses back in El Paso for their young boys to be taken care of while they are gone. Anyone that knows Kyle and Iris know that they would never ask for help but they would be the first to offer to help anyone they could. They are two of the most loving and supportive people you will ever meet.  As a mother who has had a child born with a serious medical condition my heartaches for what they have gone through, but even with that I believe any parent can feel for what they are going through.

So to our family and friends, I am asking if there is anything you can give to help them out during this time, we would be forever grateful. I would like to give them one less thing to worry about.

Lastly, please keep the entire family in your thoughts and prayers during the difficult time.

God Bless

Tiffany Cornell ( Kyle's big sister and Tia Tiff to Kinsley)