Ryan and Alexa’s 8 month old daughter, Emily, suffered a sudden medical emergency, and now they’re also facing unexpected legal battles. The weight of medical bills and attorney fees has become overwhelming.

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Ryan and Alexa wanted to share their story:

We are a young family—two parents who love our 8-month-old daughter more than anything in this world. On August 31, 2025, our lives changed forever.

While one of us was napping on the couch, the other was playing with our baby girl in the bedroom. In a split second, she crawled to the edge of the bed and fell headfirst onto the tile floor. We immediately called 911. Her breathing changed, she went unresponsive, and CPR was started right away until paramedics arrived.

She was rushed to St. Mary’s Trauma Center in West Palm Beach. A CT scan revealed a blood clot on the left side of her brain. She was taken into emergency surgery—something no parent should ever have to face. While she was still in the operating room, child protective services and a detective arrived. In the middle of our daughter’s brain surgery, they insisted we leave the hospital to reenact the accident. We complied, desperate to get back to her.

Thankfully, the surgery was a success, but the trauma to her brain was severe. Seeing her in the ICU—barely moving one side of her body—broke us. But Emily is a fighter. Over the next few days, she began to show signs of recovery: first a leg twitch, then a small grasp, and finally—her smile. When we called her by her nickname and she lit up, we knew: our baby girl was still in there.

After three weeks of intense hospital care and therapy, Emily was transferred to a pediatric rehab hospital where she made rapid progress. Doctors were amazed—she was strong, resilient, and determined. But just two days before discharge, she developed fluid buildup in her brain and needed a second surgery to place a shunt. Again, she came through it like a warrior.

But hours after that surgery, our world was shattered again.

Child protective services called to say Emily would be “sheltered.” Despite nearly a month at her side, advocating for the best care, never leaving her bedside, and having medical professionals support that her injuries were consistent with a fall—they removed custody.

They claimed her injuries didn’t match a 30-inch fall and alleged abuse. The court found “probable cause”—the lowest legal standard—and now our daughter is at our home under caregiver supervision (Ryan’s mom, Alexa’s mom and Godmother/aunt), while we are displaced in a friends home, forced to fight for our rights as parents. We can only see her two hours a day in a DCF which is horrible!

We are devastated. The people who know us know the truth—we would never, ever harm our child. We’ve done everything to protect her, care for her, and help her heal. And now we’re being kept from her at the moment she needs us most.