Help "Kit Kat" Quinn

Our amazing daughter, Catherine Fatima Seyed Quinn, is the toughest baby you will ever meet. She has spent 15 months fighting for her life. She is a feisty NICU graduate who has made many friends in the three different ICUs where she has stayed here at Children's National.

We call her "Kit Kat" because she was less than two pounds when she came into this world on September 18, 2021, and we preferred "bite sized" over "micropremie."

Born at 27 weeks and weighing only 2 pounds at birth, she was designated a micropreemie by her NICU and has undergone many medical procedures and sugeries including a cardiac bypass for a complex heart defect. At a little under 1 year of age, she underwent a repair for a long gap esophageal atresia, an uncommon variant of an already relatively rare congenital condition. Essentially, her surgeon used her stomach to create a mostly missing esophgus.

We had been hoping she would be able to eat by mouth for the first time soon after her surgery, but she had serious complications during a rocky recovery in the PICU. She is still in critical condition.

She is now facing a third surgery to get her home safely, with a possible inclusion of a stay at a Pediatric Rehabilitation Hospital.

Out of the nearly 15 months spent at Children's National Hospital in Washington D.C., my wife and I have made sure one of us has been bedside every day except nine days (inclement weather, a car accident, and a cold). This is in spite of the fact that my wife and I worked full time during her NICU and CICU stays. She is an amazing daughter and her strength inspires us.

Her hospital bills have already exceeded four million dollars. While we have insurance, we will still owe tens of thousands of dollars. She will also need to see specialists outpatient for throughout her life and will have to return to the hospital in a few years to undergo another surgery.

She has demonstrated such strength and our biggest fear is that we will not be able to afford her all of the opportunities and resources she will need to have her most successful life.

Please help us help our complex, resilient and beautiful young fighter. We are two parents who are in need of your help to ensure the provision of every possible resource needed to give Kit Kat the life she has so strongly fought for since birth.

Thank you.