Hi, I am Janet D'Amato. I am a proud new Nana to Lilyana Rupers.

This past Summer, my son Austin and his wife Halle, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on July 27th...Lilyana Mae. Shortly after birth, it was noticed that she had a slightly misshapen skull. At her two month visit with the pediatrician, she was given a referral to a cranial facial expert at Childrens Hospital Milwaukee. After a CT scan was captured of Lily's skull, our fears were confirmed. She was diagnosed with an incredibly rare condition called frontosphenoidal suture fusion or Craniosynostosis of her skull. This means that the bones in the front of her skull fused too early. This poses a problem for her rapidly growing brain. If not corrected, developmental delays will likely occur. Since Lily is so small, they ideally want to wait until she is 6 months old, to give her time to get bigger and stronger to handle the anesthesia better. Yet...not waiting too long and risk developmental delays. As you can imagine, Austin and Halle are devastated at the news. They are prepared to do anything to help their beautiful little girl. The surgery is quite invasive, and will leave her with a scar like a little warrior. But her cute little head will have a beautiful new shape with the help of 3D technology, and more importantly...room for her brain to grow.

Why are we doing a GoFUNDMe? These kids of mine (Austin and Halle) need our help to get through this, and I can't do it all on my own. They have jobs, insurance, a house, and have been working SO DAMN HARD to get ahead in life. I'm very proud of the strong work ethics they have. But this one medical event could potentially bury them in over $40,000+ in unexpected medical and therapy expenses for Lily. There will be two consecutive years of high "Out of Pocket" Insurance Maximums for them, and they are already struggling to pay the medical and therapy bills that have started coming in. We are attempting to get as many resources and organizations in place to ease the financial burden for them. My son Austin told me this week that he feels like a failure for not being able to provide for his family, to keep their head above water. I told him that no one could ever prepare for this. They are very humble, and afraid to ask for help. Soooo... I want to show them that their "village of friends and family" will come through for them in their time of need. I want to give them help financially, so all they need to worry about at surgery time, is comforting their precious little peanut. Lily's Neurosurgery and Skull ReConstruction surgery is scheduled for February 8.

If you feel it in your heart to help out, it would be deeply appreciated.