Kaliyah; Our Little Heart Warrior
Donation protected
Meet the family: Shanice (mom), Kyle (dad), and Kiera (daughter).
Shanice works as a dental assistant at a small town dental office and also works as a personal trainer at the Recreation Center in Knoxville, Ia. Her fiance, Kyle, works as a member of the janitoral staff at Pella Corporation in Pella, Ia. Kiera is their two year old daughter. The family of three resides in Knoxville.
On Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017 Shanice and Kyle found out that their second child was going to have an extra special journey ahead of her. They discovered at 21 weeks of gestation that their sweet little baby to be had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). The news was devastating. They spent the next couple hours hearing about what this syndrome was and the long, tough fight that Kaliyah is about to face. They had some serious decisions to make in a short amount of time. They had the option of terminating the pregnancy immediately. They chose life. Kaliyah will be facing a series of surgeries from the first week of birth until she is approximately 3 years old.
What is Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome? HLHS is a complex and rare heart defect present at birth (congenital). In HLHS, the left side of the heart is critically underdeveloped with valves that don't work properly. Alone, the right side of the heart is overworked and cannot pump blood to the lungs and rest of the body. Left untreated, newborn babies survive only a few days. The Norwood operation (first stage of open heart surgeries required) is performed within the FIRST week of life. This surgery reconstructs and reconnects the aorta and lower right chamber of the heart.
There is NO CURE for HLHS and this is a lifelong battle. The heart cannot be "fixed" and does not grow back over time. The surgeries are performed to redirect the flow of blood and oxygen into and out of the heart.
There are three major operations:
Norwood: performed within the first week of life
Glenn: performed between 4-6 months
Fontan: performed between 18 months to 3 years old
As you might guess, babies fighting HLHS are very fragile and require a lot of special care. If the heart doesn't respond well to the three major operations and the heart is too weak, then a heart transplant is needed.
A facebook page has been created so that anyone who is interested can follow along in Kaliyah's Journey. They are expecting her arrival at the end of July, 2017. We hope that this page will help to generate a small portion of the funds that the family will need to travel to Iowa City, IA where Kaliyah will need to be born. Living accomidations will also be necessary during the their daughters stay at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. They will be staying a minimum of 6-8 weeks as long as there are no other complications.
Any and every donation, big or small, will help tremendously. Thank you for taking the time to read about Kaliyah, our little heart warrior. All donations and prayers are greatly appreciated.
Shanice works as a dental assistant at a small town dental office and also works as a personal trainer at the Recreation Center in Knoxville, Ia. Her fiance, Kyle, works as a member of the janitoral staff at Pella Corporation in Pella, Ia. Kiera is their two year old daughter. The family of three resides in Knoxville.
On Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017 Shanice and Kyle found out that their second child was going to have an extra special journey ahead of her. They discovered at 21 weeks of gestation that their sweet little baby to be had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). The news was devastating. They spent the next couple hours hearing about what this syndrome was and the long, tough fight that Kaliyah is about to face. They had some serious decisions to make in a short amount of time. They had the option of terminating the pregnancy immediately. They chose life. Kaliyah will be facing a series of surgeries from the first week of birth until she is approximately 3 years old.
What is Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome? HLHS is a complex and rare heart defect present at birth (congenital). In HLHS, the left side of the heart is critically underdeveloped with valves that don't work properly. Alone, the right side of the heart is overworked and cannot pump blood to the lungs and rest of the body. Left untreated, newborn babies survive only a few days. The Norwood operation (first stage of open heart surgeries required) is performed within the FIRST week of life. This surgery reconstructs and reconnects the aorta and lower right chamber of the heart.
There is NO CURE for HLHS and this is a lifelong battle. The heart cannot be "fixed" and does not grow back over time. The surgeries are performed to redirect the flow of blood and oxygen into and out of the heart.
There are three major operations:
Norwood: performed within the first week of life
Glenn: performed between 4-6 months
Fontan: performed between 18 months to 3 years old
As you might guess, babies fighting HLHS are very fragile and require a lot of special care. If the heart doesn't respond well to the three major operations and the heart is too weak, then a heart transplant is needed.
A facebook page has been created so that anyone who is interested can follow along in Kaliyah's Journey. They are expecting her arrival at the end of July, 2017. We hope that this page will help to generate a small portion of the funds that the family will need to travel to Iowa City, IA where Kaliyah will need to be born. Living accomidations will also be necessary during the their daughters stay at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. They will be staying a minimum of 6-8 weeks as long as there are no other complications.
Any and every donation, big or small, will help tremendously. Thank you for taking the time to read about Kaliyah, our little heart warrior. All donations and prayers are greatly appreciated.
Organizer and beneficiary
Molly Davis
Organizer
Knoxville, IA
Shanice Shantrece Robinson
Beneficiary