Help Baby Dvaz's Path to Recovery

I never knew I could find love so pure, so amazing until I laid my eyes on him for the first time. On February 24, 2025, my nephew David Eusebio Vazquez, or known to many as Dev, Davidsito, Chevito, Baby Dvaz, and Little Love Bug, was born and my life changed in an instant. You see, I come from a small family and having a new baby to love is something we all were eagerly waiting for. He was perfect and beautiful with big brown eyes that you can easily get lost in. He instantly won all of our hearts over with his mere goo goos, gurgles, and of course his sass. Oh boy, is he sassy! He definitely has the bombastic side eye down to a T! He’s so expressive with his eyebrows and furrows. He is such joy!

On the night of Wednesday, June 11th, he started vomiting out of nowhere, with never being around anyone sick. The following day, his mother, my sister Naomi, and my brother-in-law David took him to the doctor because he was still vomiting and was running a fever. At his pediatrician's office, they diagnosed him with a stomach flu. They prescribed anti-nausea medicine and Tylenol. The following day, Friday, he continued with the vomiting and fever. He continued to get worse and was lethargic. He looked more limp and we could tell something was not right. His parents took him to the hospital that night and were there for almost 9 hours. Since his pediatrician diagnosed him with the stomach flu, that was what the hospital took it as. They did a CT of his abdominal area, with an ultrasound as well. There were no blockages. They were sent home early Saturday morning with instructions to continue to hydrate him and give him the anti-nausea medicine.

It was Saturday afternoon that changed all our lives. He was no longer responding to the bottle and on the way to the hospital, my sister noticed one eye was dilated and the other wasn’t. When they arrived at the hospital, that’s when they discovered through a head CT that was immediately ordered, our precious baby boy had a brain bleed, not the stomach flu as two physicians said he had. Stanford was immediately contacted and within a few hours, he and mom were airlifted via helicopter to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. At Stanford, he had a neuro team ready to go to operate as soon as they landed.

At 8:12 pm on Saturday, June 14, 2025, my precious baby nephew went into a life-threatening emergency brain surgery. The delicate surgery took about 2.5 hours, where the neurosurgeon and his team removed a portion of his skull to allow for some release of the intense pressure. Following surgery, we were told that he is going to have a long road ahead of him and that they don’t know what is going to happen. He was continuing to bleed but because the surgery was already so dangerous to do, they did not want to explore for where the blood was coming from. After his surgery, he has been experiencing numerous seizures because of the swelling in his brain and he has been given medications to help with them.

Numerous CTs and MRIs have been ordered to determine what is going on, and upon further blood testing, they discovered he has a very rare, a 1/25,000 chance, genetic blood disorder called Hemophilia B. His tiny body cannot produce enough of the clotting protein factor IX, therefore his blood wasn’t able to clot and his brain bleed will continue. Since this discovery, they have been able to administer the protein to help his blood form the clots needed for the bleeding to subside. Since this is a very rare disorder, they have to make the synthetic protein in a lab and this is very costly.

He continues to be in the PICU at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital where he is being closely monitored by numerous doctors, specialists, nurse practitioners, and RNs. Eventually, over time, he will be slowly weaned off all the medications he is on and by the grace of God can overcome the obstacles he will be facing. My sister won’t be able to work during these next months and my brother-in-law will have to be away from his precious baby to do what he can to support this beautiful family. Any donation made can help make a huge difference in their lives and can help alleviate the stress they are already experiencing. Thank you.