Ava is now hospitalized at UCSF! She will remain hospitalized until she gets the heart transplant! The family is now in two different places. Dad is with Ava at UCSF. And mom is home with the two sisters. Making it hard to keep up financially. Please donate! No amount is too small! Thank you! ❤️

Meet Ava

(Ava is my 7-YEAR-old granddaughter)

Ava was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. She spent the 1st 3 months of her life at UCSF in San Francisco. She has had 4 Open Heart surgeries and multiple Heart Catherizations. Her 1st surgery was at 2 months old. Her last heart surgery was in November of last year. We thought at that time she would be good for a few years before another intervention was needed. By February of this year, she has declined. We were told that she had second degree heart blockage. She was also diagnosis with Plastic Bronchitis. We were told that she will need a heart transplant. This was the next and only option for her. She went through an evaluation process. As of July 19th, 2024, she was put on the heart transplant list.

Mom and dad have done a great job with her and has been able to stay afloat financially. I have seen them struggle and family has stepped in at times when they can. But my reason for the GoFundMe to be set up is because this next journey will be even harder. She is listed on the transplant list as 1B. She can stay at home at this stage which is a blessing. Once she is moved to 1A she will be hospitalize. This could be for months. The family will have to be separated. With dad and Ava at UCSF. Mom and the two sisters will be at home. Financially it will be hard and also long term. They can use all the help they can get. But our 1st request is you keep all of them in your thoughts and prayers. Ava has a Facebook Page called Team Ava Heart Warrior. I will be post regular on how she is doing and share her life with you. Anyone who has met Ava knows what a special heart warrior she is and continues to be.

Below is the health history she has been through already.

About Team Ava Heart Warrior

Ava Paige Williams is 7 years old and was diagnosed at birth with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and Heterotaxy with Asplenia. She was born with half a working heart, two right lungs, no spleen and midline liver. She has had a total of 4 open heart surgeries, her first at 6 weeks old called the Norwood procedure, in which she was admitted in the hospital for 3 months. At 9 months, she had the Glen procedure, she was admitted to the hospital for 2 months. At 4 years old she had a shunt placed and she was admitted to the hospital for 9 weeks, had her chest open for 3 weeks, had the shunt changed out two times, exposed to COVID, sepsis, e.coli infection and a blood clot in her leg. She had a to have injections in her thighs twice a day for 5 months to dissolve the blood clot. At 7 years old, she had another shunt placed, she was admitted to the hospital for 5 weeks. She has had 8 heart Catherizations, g-tube placement and removal, Nissen surgery and appendectomy, countless IV placements, x-rays, medication changes, physical therapy, speech therapy, food therapy.

Ava had her last heart surgery in November 2023, which she has had unanticipated complications from. In February 2024, she had a lot of setbacks, was diagnosed with plastic bronchitis and 2nd degree heart block and we were told she cannot receive a pacemaker. Ava’s family all got COVID19. We were told after testing that the high blood pressures in her lungs have caused her lymphatic system to become abnormal and that she would need a surgery to attempt to correct it. In April 2024, we were told that Ava would not qualify for the 3rd palliative stage surgery called the Fontan procedure and that she would need to go forward with the evaluation process for a heart transplant. We were not prepared for this information because we had been told that her last surgery would give us 5 more years before transplant would need to be discussed.

As of July 19th, Ava has been placed on the heart transplant list as status 1B.

Despite the challenges Ava has had to face she continues to be a happy little girl who loves being a big sister. She is very creative; she loves to draw and paint. Ava will be starting the 2nd grade.

We are grateful for any donations and prayers for our family.