Josephine's Village Memorial

Josephine (#lilbabygirloj) was born on August 8th, 2017 to her excited parents Jeff and Jessica Gleason at Martha Jefferson Sentara Hospital in Charlottesville, VA. Soon after birth, a heart murmur was heard and following many visits to UVA's Children's Hospital Cardiology Clinic, it was determined that Jo  had CHD (congenital heart disease). Her CHD came in the form of both severe pulmonary artery stenosis and supravalvular aortic stenosis, both of which required open heart surgey.  So on October 13th and 16th sweet baby Josephine, at only 9 weeks old, underwent two open-heart surgeries within three days of each other. Heartbreakingly, after 10 weeks in the UVA PICU, Josephine passed away in her parents arms on Christmas day. As you can imagine, many weeks in the PICU, multiple surgeries and procedures plus two devoted parents who didn't leave Josephine's side can create a financial burden which no parent should have to endure after the loss of a child. Friends are asking to please consider giving to this fund so Jeff and Jess don't have to bear this burden as well. All donations go directly to them as beneficiary.

From her parents:
"Josephine, our oh so precious daughter, passed away on Christmas. We held her in our arms, free from tubes and machines, and watched the sunset. She is now at peace. She was so strong and fought so hard to stay with us, but unfortunately her body could not support her will to live. She is one of God's angels now, we are sure of it. She was too sweet, precious, and innocent not to be called to heaven to be an angel. If you can, please say a prayer for her. And when you see a sunset, please think of her and be reminded to be a kind and loving person, even on your hardest days. Josephine enudred some very hard days, but she never stopped opening her eyes and loving Jeff and me. Her look melted our hearts every time and we will be missing her and her beautiful eyes and absolutely every inch of her perfect self for the rest of our lives."