Help Baby Genesis Heal from Surgery

When our beautiful baby girl entered into the world, she aspirated on meconium. Instead of hearing her cry, we heard her grunting and struggling to breathe. Quickly, her oxygen was dropping, and she soon was placed on CPAP. Hours after birth, she needed more medical intervention and was ventilated. This was the beginning of respiratory failure. Her condition became more critical with every passing hour, and on her birthday, she was taken by emergency transport to Rady’s Children’s Hospital, two hours away from home, to receive emergency surgery (ECMO).

Our neonatologist informed us that our daughter had contracted E. Coli and was also in septic shock. She had severe pulmonary hypertension, sepsis, and was in respiratory failure within one day of life. She received antibiotics, and her surgery was successful, which circulated her entire blood volume into a machine to oxygenate it and remove carbon dioxide on her behalf, to rest her lungs.

Alongside all her problems, the doctors found a mass in her left ventricle of the heart. This began the worry of our daughter having a genetic condition known as tuberous sclerosis complex, where tuber-like masses grow most commonly in the heart, brain, skin, and liver. Her risk for seizure activity was made to be a bigger concern.

Slowly, we saw our daughter heal. She fought against the infection and slowly was able to be weaned off the ventilator and eventually oxygen. While she physically recovered, she unfortunately had more to overcome. Genesis was having a very hard time feeding. Weeks have turned to months where she needs occupational therapy to help with tube feeding and getting her to finish a bottle of milk.

She has had trouble gaining weight and later was diagnosed with failure to thrive. Since being discharged from the NICU, Genesis’s medical treatment and follow-ups are ongoing. We have weekly therapy and plan on continuing care for her.

The goal of our GoFundMe is to help pay for her insurance premiums, her medical debt (which has totaled over $470,000 after insurance), and to help pay for her ongoing therapy, as well as diagnostic tests for tuberous sclerosis complex.

Genesis is such a fighter and has overcome so much in her life! Her parents are humbly asking for help as we try to navigate through financial hardship in the aftermath of a 33-day NICU stay, emergency surgery, and so much more.

-The Ramirez Family