Hi guys! I appreciate everyone for taking a moment to read Emmalyn’s story!

When I was around 16 weeks pregnant, we found out that there was an issue with baby Emmalyn’s heart. After seeing two cardiologists down here in Johnson City—having a fetal echo done on her heart we were referred to UVA in Charlottesville, VA. We took our first trip (of many and more to come) down to Charlottesville where the heart doctors confirmed that she has two heart defects—Double outlet right ventricle, Complete balanced atrio-ventricular canal and Small premium type atrial septal defect. In simpler terms, she has one huge hole in her heart that can only be repaired with open heart surgery—3 surgeries to be exact.

On June 22nd 2024, we brought our beautiful baby girl into the world.

The doctors told us that she would be the one to determine when they do her surgery—that she would start showing signs of distress and would start breathing harder than normal. Her respirations started out normal but quickly started to rise. Normal respirations for a baby are between 30-60 where hers trended between 80-160 within just a few days. Just 6 days after she was born she had her first open heart surgery. She had a Pulmonary Artery Band placed which reduces the blood flow to the lungs. Unfortunately, this was only a temporary fix. Two more surgeries are to be expected. Fast forward a few months, on November 7th 2024 she had her second open heart surgery—the Glenn procedure. She took recovery like a champ and by November 13th we were discharged to go home. After we got home, we noticed she started crying differently—like an inconsolable cry. I tried everything to keep her calm and happy, but ended up taking her to the ER only to be told she was a happy, healthy baby and that they didn’t want to upset her by running any tests. Fast forward another week, she had her post op cardiology appointment and the echo showed a large amount of fluid around her lungs so they admitted her to JCMC where we stayed for a week before being transferred back up to UVA. They’ve tried about everything in the book to get rid of the fluid but still can’t figure out why it keeps coming back. After all she’s been through and all that’s to come, she still has the biggest smile on her face!!!

With us being 5 hours away from home, having no income at all now, anything that is donated will help us out tremendously financially. Anything will help. If you’re not able to contribute money at this time, a share to your friends and family would be greatly appreciated!