My name is Alison Cogo and my story begins last May when my son, Anthony and his wife to be at the time, Crystal, announced they were expecting twins on December 31, 2015. This would make their family complete with big sister Piper-Lynn, Crystal's daughter and Anthony's new daughter.  Oh the excitment!! Oh the expense!!  A bigger vehicle was a necessity as Anthony drove an older, 2003, Chevy Malibu. Twins run in my family but a set had not been born since my sisers, 60 years ago!!  For the next two months we made wedding plans and plans to accompany the young couple to their ultrasound on July 31st to see the little peanuts and find out the sex of the babies. On July 31 and after a lengthy wait the technician finally came and asked my son to go in.  After another wait my son came to get me and I instantly knew something was wrong.  When we went into the room I could hear Crystal's sobs and was very concerned.  It was explained that Twin A was doing well, but Twin B had some abnormalites, Down Syndrome maybe, something else, they would have to do further testing.  Well whatever it is, I told Anthony and Crystal, you have many people to support and help with anything.  What we did know that 2 beautiful baby girls were on their way.  We continued with the wedding plans for September 5, a small affair on the property of a family member, with close friends and family, while waiting for appointments with specialists.  Two weeks after the ultrasound Anthony and Crystal's world came to a crashing hault as it did for the rest of the family too.  Little Eva, (twin b) was diagnosed with tricuspid atresia and A Genesis of the corpus callosum.  Big words to learn and understand.  The prognosis was not good.  In most cases, tricuspid atresia is treatable but with Eva's little heart it just wasn't possible.  Anthony and Crystal were given a less than 1% chance for Eva's survival.  Crystal had to leave work with the high risk pregnancy and stress and every appointment they had Anthony had to miss work.  I asked if they wanted to postpone the wedding but it was decided they would like to move ahead as most things were paid for  and have a day where celebration and happiness with the people they loved would ease the pain if just for a moment.  Life continued after September 5, as it does, with more appointments with the specialists and more ultrasounds.  Olivia (twin a) was thriving, thank goodness, and Eva was growing but very slowly.  They were given the option of a selective reduction which would mean intervening medically to stop Eva's heart or just let nature take it's course.  Anthony and Crystal talked about it and thought long and hard and decided it was best to let nature take it's course.  So we all mourned and grieved our beautiful little Eva and tried as best we could to prepare for the loss yet to come.  She may pass in utero but if she was born it would be minutes to  hours Anthony and Crystal would have with her.  On December 16, after an ultrasound showed fluid leaking from the amnio sacs, the OBGYN decided "Why wait any longer?"  The next few paragraphs are my son's words verbatim after the twins were born on December 17, 2015.

Anthony's words:

Today has been the most amazing day of my life. I became a father to two gorgeous little girls, Olivia Evynne Vittoria and Eva Rebecca Cogo. What originally I thought would be overwhelming and impossible, I so very quickly realized it's what I was meant to do.

At 12:01 and 12:02, my daughters were born. And I fell in love for a second and third time, the first being their beautiful, strong mother, the woman I married, Crystal Anne Cogo.

This has not been an easy road. Upon doagnosis of Eva's conditions, we were distraught. How could this happen? Why could something that felt like the perfect gift, beautiful twin girls, all of a sudden feel like a nightmare? But as we became more informed and as Olivia kept improving and growing, we knew that we had to be thankful of that.

After so many trips to so many hospitals to see so many specialists, the day finally came that we would meet our girls. And with a stroke of luck, a familiar face, Krysten Lintner, told us that she would indeed be our nurse. I knew that we were in the best hands.

When the girls were born, we didn't know how long we would have with our darling Eva. But what we were sure of was that she experience a lifetime of love and caring for as long as we had her.

As I type this little Eva is sleeping in my arms, as beautiful a baby as there has ever been. The girls are just minutes away from a day old. And I feel like the luckiest man in the world. It's not just family and friends that we have, it's a community, a village, of the most amazing people that walk this Earth.

It has been 3 weeks now and after sending Eva home with palliative care nurses coming in and appoinments with the pediatrician, the pediatrician made an appointment with a child cardiologist on January 8 2016, the best news that possibly could have been given was.  Eva is thriving and upon closer look at her heart there is a 90% chance that a few surgeries  will be able to help her.  Her little heart does not have the tricuspid valve which blood flows through after entering the heart.  the blood goes straight through the pulmonary artery and into the left side of the heart and by chance there is a hole in the arterial wall which is allowing oxygenated blood to enter her lungs.  Eva is going to Sick Kids for a consult very soon, we hope to hear this week.  Wonder upon wonder Eva is our little miracle baby.  After being born at 2.10 lbs she is now ovr 3,5 lbs and growing every day.  

Because Crystal had to leave work early and did not qualify for any maternity benefits and Anthony had to miss a lot of work for ultrasound and specialist appointments, there is no money to afford a vehicle they so desperately need. There will also be many days ahead with appointments and surgeries that Anthony will miss work for.  With Crystal home looking after Olivia and Piper-Lynn, Anthony will stay with Eva during her surgeries and recoveries.  This means lost wages and bills piling up. 

Raising enough funds to help them and specifically for my beautiful little granddaughter, our Miracle, Eva would give Anthony and Crystal peace of mind and the opportunity to spend the necessary time with Eva as she continues to thrive.

I am forever thankful to  each and every one of you for taking the time to read Eva's Wonderful Journey, and if you can help in any way.