Hello, my name is Dorothy Crocker and I am attempting to raise funds for my sweet niece, Ella.

Ella Claire Crocker was born in March 2024 with Heterotaxy Syndrome, a rare congenital defect that causes organs to be misplaced or missing throughout the body. Heterotaxy is also often paired with congenital heart defects.

Ella was born with complete heart block, complete unbalanced AV canal defect, several VSDs, a slightly hypoplastic left ventricle, among other cardiac conditions. At nine months old, she has already received 3 open chest surgeries in her lifetime: a temporary pacer at birth; a permanent pacer and PDA ligation at 2.5 weeks old; and finally, a PA bands to help her not overcirculate at 2 months. While her team and family held out hope that a full repair was in Ella’s future, it was recently confirmed that a heart transplant was the safest route for her to go.

Thus, she is once again in-patient at UF Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, FL awaiting her miracle heart. Although she is listed as a 1A transplant candidate, the wait time for babies under 1 can range anywhere from a few days to a year. She has been waiting since October 2024.

As you may imagine, the expenses have begun to pile up for the Crocker family because of these events over the last year. And while we have already raised almost $10k for them earlier this year, we are now hoping to raise another $50,000 to help cover the medical expenses not covered by insurance and also to help mitigate the loss of income they are experiencing with Grace (Ella’s mom) not being able to work right now.

Ella is truly a gift and a miracle from God. We are thankful for her beautiful life, and we want to support her family as best as we can.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and consider helping this family out!