March, 2017
We started this gofundme account several years ago, and thanks to many generous contributors $3100 was raised at that time to help Lily and her family.  Sadly, Lily is back in the hospital again with very serious health issues and an anticipated lengthy stay.  Her family is looking at weeks and possibly months of hospitalized recovery.  Your support is incredibly appreciated.  Please check the "Updates" below to follow along with Lily's amazing story.  

(Original posting from 2015):
A little over a year ago, our son Eric began dating a woman named Angela.  We could tell she was something special by the way he described her, but when he talked about her kids, his face absolutely lit up.  Now that we know Angela and her kids, we know why he loves them all so much.  

Some of you might also know that Angela's youngest daughter, Lily, was born with four congenital heart defects (CHDs).  Angela described them all this way:
*Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
(The left side of her heart is severely underdeveloped, and nonfunctioning)
*Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venus Return
(A random network of pulmonary veins that drained into unwanted areas of the heart)
*Aortic CoArctation
(A narrowing of the aorta)
*Double Outlet Right Ventricle
(Instead of one artery coming from each ventricle, both arteries are coming out of the right one, this is unavoidable since her left ventricle is basically nonexistent).

Lily is only in kindergarten and has had four open-heart surgeries.  Her medical history is incredibly complicated, complex and extensive.  Angela has written an amazing synopsis on her Facebook page if you want to read all the details.  There's no easy way to say this, but right now Lily is facing some pretty scary odds.   Because of her medical history, she is not a candidate for a heart transplant. Her only option in this regard would be a very rare double lung and heart transplant.  We're all praying as hard as we can.

Lily is one of the strongest, toughest, sweetest little girls I've ever met.  She gets all of this quite honestly from her mother, who is amazing.  Angela doesn't like to accept help, but I finally got her to agree to let me set up this gofundme account.  Your support is deeply, deeply appreciated!