When you lay eyes on this beautiful girl, you would never imagine the struggle she has been through in the first two years of her life. This beauty is Penelope, and her smile hides her struggle and that of her parents all too well. Penelope was born with a congenital heart defect known as Pulmonary Atresia on December 23, 2016. A shock to the entire family since her defect was not discovered until 12hrs after her birth. Most parents of a Christmas baby would be overjoyed to spend Christmas at home with their new baby miracle but sadly that is not where baby Penelope and her parents spent their first Christmas. Soon after her birth she was transferred to Dell Childrens Medical Center in Austin Tx where she was to spend the next two and a half months fighting for her life. By the time Penelope was 1 month old she had undergone several procedures in an attempt to repair her defect and none were successful until the 3rd attempt when they opened up her little chest and operated on her heart. To simplify the explanation of the surgery, since Penelope was born without the valve in the pulmonary artery to let blood flow into the lungs, they opened up the blockage and also placed a backup shunt to make sure enough blood flow would make it into the lungs providing oxygen. As we all know, these shunts are made of plastic and as Penelope has grown older and bigger the shunt has not grown with her, causing her oxygen levels to drop lower and lower. It is now time for the next stage of her heart repair which means it is now time for another open heart surgery. Her cardiac team at Dell Children’s has an excellent plan in place and are ready to proceed within the next month with the heart surgery. Your donations will help cover the cost of Penelope’s life saving surgery and aftercare. The journey of a family with a child born with a congenital heart defect is long and difficult, along with the surgeries the child often requires specialized care and recovery times can be long. Penelope will have a lengthy recovery ahead of her but we are confident she will persevere just as she always has. 

I want to thank my good friend Tori Dailey for writing this out for Joel and I, we truly appreciate it.
-Joel, Mimi, Penelope and Caspian