Help for Baby Ilena
Donation protected
Baby Ilena and the Gonzales family needs your help! Ilena came into this world at 11:49 am on January 20, 2017, 4 days sooner than her planned C-Section due to the concerns of the obstetrician. At birth, Ilena had issues with breathing. At first, the doctors thought she needed some extra help because she was such a big girl. Ilena weighed 10 pounds 7 ounces! Unfortunately, the extra stimulation and oxygen did not help, Ilena was not breathing on her own and the doctors ended up putting her on a ventilator.
At 2:15 pm, the doctors decided that baby Ilena needed to be transferred to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital where she could receive the care that she needed. Less than two hours later, the children’s hospital sent an ambulance with a pediatrician, heart specialist, pulmonary specialist, and a nurse to transport baby Ilena to the hospital. Meanwhile, Ilena’s Mother Mari, had to remain at the hospital to recover from her C-Section.
Once at Comers, multiple tests were conducted to discover what was causing Ilena’s breathing problems. The results revealed that Ilena was born without pulmonary surfactant. Surfactant is a material that stops the lungs from collapsing when you exhale. Ilena is being administered doses of surfactant but is still on the ventilator due to her rapid breathing and the stress that may cause her body. Unfortunately, due the ventilator, Ilena is being fed through a feeding tube in her nose and cannot bottle feed. The hospital also ran an echogram and discovered that Ilena has a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), which is a hole in the wall separating the two lower chambers of the heart. With this, the doctors will monitor her blood flow to make sure that the heart and lungs are not having to work harder.
Ilena’s family thought everything was under control, until January 24 when she stopped breathing 3 times within an hour. At this time, the seizures started and the hospital started her on anti-seizure medicine. An EEG was performed, but the seizures kept occurring and more anti-seizure medicine was given. The next morning, with the seizures under control, a CAT scan of her brain was performed with the results coming back normal. That same day, another echogram was done and Ilena was able to relax until about 5 pm when she experienced 4 more seizures. Her anti-seizure medicine was increased and no further seizures have occurred (the hospital also did a spinal tap to confirm that an infection wasn’t the cause of the seizures and started her on a 21 day course of antibiotics to be on the safe side).
Ilena was also found to be missing part of her 9th rib, partial cleft lip and palate. On February 3, the hospital drew blood to run a 22 panel blood test to analyze Ilena’s chromosomes as she has some symptoms of a midline defect. The hospital still cannot answer why Ilena had seizures and the ongoing breathing issue. Ilena is expected to remain at Comer’s at minimum, for another month. They will continue to observe her while on the anti-seizure medicine and her breathing will need to improve so she can progress to feeding by mouth.
Ilena has a long road ahead of her, but surrounded by her “teammates” and their faith in God she will succeed!
Thank you for your help in relieving some of the financial burden for this wonderful family.
At 2:15 pm, the doctors decided that baby Ilena needed to be transferred to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital where she could receive the care that she needed. Less than two hours later, the children’s hospital sent an ambulance with a pediatrician, heart specialist, pulmonary specialist, and a nurse to transport baby Ilena to the hospital. Meanwhile, Ilena’s Mother Mari, had to remain at the hospital to recover from her C-Section.
Once at Comers, multiple tests were conducted to discover what was causing Ilena’s breathing problems. The results revealed that Ilena was born without pulmonary surfactant. Surfactant is a material that stops the lungs from collapsing when you exhale. Ilena is being administered doses of surfactant but is still on the ventilator due to her rapid breathing and the stress that may cause her body. Unfortunately, due the ventilator, Ilena is being fed through a feeding tube in her nose and cannot bottle feed. The hospital also ran an echogram and discovered that Ilena has a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), which is a hole in the wall separating the two lower chambers of the heart. With this, the doctors will monitor her blood flow to make sure that the heart and lungs are not having to work harder.
Ilena’s family thought everything was under control, until January 24 when she stopped breathing 3 times within an hour. At this time, the seizures started and the hospital started her on anti-seizure medicine. An EEG was performed, but the seizures kept occurring and more anti-seizure medicine was given. The next morning, with the seizures under control, a CAT scan of her brain was performed with the results coming back normal. That same day, another echogram was done and Ilena was able to relax until about 5 pm when she experienced 4 more seizures. Her anti-seizure medicine was increased and no further seizures have occurred (the hospital also did a spinal tap to confirm that an infection wasn’t the cause of the seizures and started her on a 21 day course of antibiotics to be on the safe side).
Ilena was also found to be missing part of her 9th rib, partial cleft lip and palate. On February 3, the hospital drew blood to run a 22 panel blood test to analyze Ilena’s chromosomes as she has some symptoms of a midline defect. The hospital still cannot answer why Ilena had seizures and the ongoing breathing issue. Ilena is expected to remain at Comer’s at minimum, for another month. They will continue to observe her while on the anti-seizure medicine and her breathing will need to improve so she can progress to feeding by mouth.
Ilena has a long road ahead of her, but surrounded by her “teammates” and their faith in God she will succeed!
Thank you for your help in relieving some of the financial burden for this wonderful family.
Organizer and beneficiary
Samantha Jane Lockwood
Organizer
Lisle, IL
Michael Gonzales
Beneficiary