Donate to Help Amelia Grace Fuentes-Lopez

Hi, my name is Chabela & I’m Amelia's aunt & Angie’s big sister. We are starting this gofundme page to raise money to help alleviate the financial costs her parents, Angelina Fuentes & Nick Lopez, are facing with their beautiful, very sick baby girl, Amelia Grace. We hope in doing so, they can focus all their attention on loving & praying over their beautiful little miracle. Any and all donations from our friends, family & community would be greatly appreciated and/or if you could share this with your friends & family, we would be so very grateful.

 

Amelia’s Story

 

On Monday, March 14th, Amelia Grace was born nearly 5 weeks early via an emergency c-section, at just 4lbs and 11 oz. She was born with a very rare condition called Gastroschisis. This is a birth defect where the baby’s intestines are found on the outside of their belly, & it is unknown as to what causes this to happen. We knew early on in Angie’s pregnancy that her baby girl was going to be born with this condition; however, the severity of it was unpredictable. Despite consistent weekly visits with specialists and specialty ultrasounds & testing, this was something that showed no signs anywhere during her pregnancy. Doctors believe that something happened unexpectedly in the uterus only hours before Angie went into early labor. With normal Gastroschisis, babies can grow up to live normal lives, but with Complex Gastroschisis, the type Amelia has, it is predicted she will have lifelong complications & obstacles. Our goal is to get her healthy & out of the NICU unit.

 

From the moment Amelia was born, the doctors have been fighting to keep her organs alive. Gastroschisis prevented all of them from receiving proper blood flow in the uterus, especially her intestines and liver. Initially, the doctors didn’t think she would make it, but miraculously she has been a fighter, and her levels have slowly been improving; however, we are told she is nowhere near out of the woods yet. She has already undergone one surgery to remove the dead sections of her intestines, the parts that were beyond repair, and we are hopeful that the rest continue to improve and function properly. However, overall, she has not improved at the rate & level of which we were praying for. It’s been discovered that her liver is not clotting her blood like it should be & there are high levels of iron in her blood. The doctors & nurses are constantly cycling new blood into her fragile, little body to keep her stable while they work to pinpoint why this is happening.

 

Seeing our beautiful baby girl hooked up to so many wires & tubes has been very heart-wrenching. Holding her little hand and feeling her quiver & and twist has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced. I wish I could take all her pain away. We could have never in a million years predicted we would be in this situation. This was so unexpected it feels surreal to all of us. Even though this was not how Angelina & Nick’s pregnancy was supposed to go, we are trying very hard to stay optimistic and only to speak positive things into existence. From before she was born, when they first announced to us that they were pregnant, we have had so much love for her and that continues to grow each and every day we spend with her. She is so very loved & when I hold her hand & look in her little tiny eyes, I can feel she knows that, even as she’s hooked up to all those machines.

 

Current Updates

 

3-18-22 In these next few days, we await more tests and surgeries to narrow down what’s causing her liver to lose function. Her intestines still remain outside her body because they need her to be strong enough to make it through another surgery or two before they can start to put them back in. Currently, she is in very critical condition & the doctors have told us we have every reason to be worried. They told us she is one of the sickest babies in the NICU right now. We are all hoping & praying she pulls through and continues to fight. We will continue to update this as we progress along Amelia’s journey to total health.