In 2024, Nova's journey started before she was even born. Her heart rate dropped, and I had to be induced. She was born not breathing for 8 minutes, and they had to call a code. NICU came, as well as a lot of other nurses/doctors, and they got her breathing, but she still couldn't cry.

After the first day of her being born, they did an X-ray to try to find out why she couldn't cry and why her breathing was labored and noisy. Nothing showed on the X-ray, and they diagnosed her with stridor. Three months passed, and her breathing got louder and more labored, and she still couldn't cry, so we were sent to a pediatric ENT. They ran a scope in her nose to her throat and found a cyst on her vocal cord, and it was infected. They immediately put her on medication and scheduled her first surgery at 4 months old. They cut and drained it, and she finally cried/made noise and breathed with ease.

We thought everything was over until it came back, and she had to go back to surgery. She had 2 more cut and drain surgeries so she could breathe with ease. This time, they found out that it not only had come back but had grown more and down into her esophagus and down her left vocal cord. We were informed that because of its place and size, it couldn't be removed where we live and that the surgery would come with risk, so we were sent to Chapel Hill for better understanding. Chapel Hill scheduled scans and a surgery to try to remove it with a robot through her nose, but as they went in, they realized that the cyst is too big and she would need a "bigger surgery."

This surgery would come with even more risk. Her cyst is visibly bulging through her neck when she looks up, so they are going to go through the outside of her neck to try to remove it. The surgery can go one of two ways. The best outcome would be she will be sedated with a breathing tube and feeding tube for three days and get to go home after a week as long as her oxygen stabilizes. The second outcome would be if they can't get to the cyst because of the breathing tube being in the way, they would do a trach instead of a breathing tube, and she could have it in for a couple of weeks to a month. This surgery risk is paralysis of her left vocal cord.

She's 2 on June 1st and has only had her voice for 17 months. We know she will be okay in God's hands and the great doctors/teams at Chapel Hill and the doctors that she has had along the road. We live 4 1/2 hours away and will be out of work anywhere from a week to a month, so things will get a little challenging. We could use all the prayers and help we can get, and unfortunately, medical stays and traveling expenses aren't free or cheap, so we also could use all the help we can get. We're hopeful this will be her last and final surgery, and she can be on the road to recovery and that she will breathe and talk without straining finally like she deserves to. ❤️