First of all, I want to say hello to everyone and present myself...my name is Kiara Santana. I'm doing a funeral fundraiser for my sweet little sister Lizanees, that passed away this past Thursday, May 25th at 2:42am.

She was born on July 6, 2001 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. She was a premature baby of only 32 weeks. So tiny that all her clothes were handmade or we had to buy clothes from little dolls just to dress her. At 2 months of age is when we first found out that she had Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL) and Microcephaly. At that time, she was given only 10 years of life expectancy. Since then, she started care at one of the hospitals in Puerto Rico, as well as the SER rehabilitation center, where she began physical, occupational and speech therapy. At 3 years old, she received her first wheelchair donated by a government foundation. She also started at Loaiza Cordero specialized school for the deaf and blind. At 3.5 years of age, she had her first seizure that cause her to start receiving new medication and treatment for seizures. She went through a lot of different doctors, tests, medication, labs and many procedures. Several times she would have to go in for a pulmonology care appointment and she would end up getting hospitalized. In the beginning of 2010, my mom and stepdad took my little sister for further evaluation at Shriners Hospital in Tampa, FL, where she was was checked for the first time by many different specialists. After that, it was decided that for her quality of life, it will be better for us to move to the U.S. Here she would receive all the care she required, plus equipment and more to meet her needs. So we moved from PR to Florida in July of 2010.

In August of that year, she started special needs school at Karen M. Siegel Academy. Fast forward to 2014, my little sister Lizanees would end up getting hospitalized for pneumonia at Arnold Palmer Hospital and it was decided that it was best for her to receive a G-tube procedure, her first invasive surgical procedure. From that point on, she began receiving complete care for all her needs at Nemours Hospital for Children. In 2015, she got operated for scoliosis to help her left lung and heart that were compromised and affected by the pressure on them. She was so delicate that we thought we were going to lose her. She overcame this critical state by the glory of God. In the beginning of 2018, she was hospitalized again with a virus and pneumonia. Then again at the end of 2018. Every time she would get hospitalized, there was no time frame on when she'll be released. And many times, she would be in the hospital for months at a time. In February of 2020, she got in a critical state where her oxygen dropped dramatically and she had to be taken to the Winter Haven hospital, where they weren't prepared for Liza's tiny size and condition. Because even though she was already 19 years old, her body type was more of a ten-year-old girl. From Winter Haven Hospital, she was quickly taken on helicopter to Nemours ER were they had to treat her fast so she could have a chance to make it out of this critical stage. Her doctors thought that her overall health got so compromised and complicated that her brain couldn't make it through, due to all the seizures she had had. But she miraculously made it through and a tracheotomy was done so she can receive better oxygen and a better quality of life. After a few long months, she came out of the hospital and was then completely taken care of by my mom. Even when they would recommend a nurse, my mom knew everything on how to take care of her at home and provide her needs. In another occasion, she got hospitalized and doctors found out she had an infection in her kidneys and had kidney stones on her right kidney. So she had to stay for a few months in the hospital until she finally overcame this as well.

On May 16, 2023, she would be admitted to a hospital facility for the last and final time. She started having non-stop seizures the night before, and then again in the morning of the 16th. Mom took her to AdventHealth Orlando, where she would be for the next 10 days. During that time, they were able to control her seizures a little bit. As well as her oxygen levels and her lungs, which were getting fluids in them. They had to put her in a type of comma and paralyzed her to give her brain a break from the seizure activity. They had to drain fluids because she was very swollen overall, but specially her belly and that was putting pressure on her other organs. Surgery was also done to remove stones from her right kidney. They did everything that they could, hoping for her condition to get better. She was stable some days, but on the morning of Tuesday, May 24th, her health started deteriorating and was said the best two options for her was to either open her belly up so she could get better oxygen, or just let her body run the course; neither of these options were a guarantee of her making it through. At the end, it came down to not putting her through any more pain and just letting her body rest and hope for a miracle. But this time, God had other plans for her and at 2:42am on Thursday, May 25th, she returned to the arms of our heavenly father.

She was always given the best life possible with all of her limitations. Mom always wanted what was best for her and that's exactly what she did. Lizanees always loved and enjoyed being in the water. She loved ballons. She loved bubbles. She loved noise. She loved being at church and listening to worship songs. She loved for her nephew's to play and watch movies with her. She loved listening to people singing to her. She loved seeing her sisters, mom and loved ones around her and when they would make her laugh. She had such a beautiful and special smile. Everyone that got to know her always knew her as the princess of the family. Every time she overcame a hospitalization, doctors will ask for the little crown that Lizanees would always wear, and she would leave the hospital wearing it. And this last time was no exception. She came out for her walk of honor wearing that beautiful crown that characterized her, with her worship music and surrounded by her loved ones for one last goodbye.