Mia Grace

Most of you have been reading about my niece Mia’s journey so far. She was born prematurely at 31 weeks and was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and stayed in the NICU for 84 days. She was only home for 2 weeks when she developed a respiratory virus which led to some feeding intolerance. Paige and Fernando noticed her belly looking extra distended and made an appointment with Mia’s specialty clinic at CMH for Tuesday afternoon to see if they could get some answers. While my sister and Mia were at the appointment, the nurse was getting vitals, when her o2 and heart rate suddenly dropped. They rushed her to ER and she got worse. They almost lost her and had to start CPR and intubate her. She was admitted to the PICU and was critically stable.

They still don’t have all the answers, but know she was battling a respiratory virus and an infection in her belly. She had free fluid built up in her abdomen that came back positive for bacterial infection. This led to infection in her VP shunt in her brain as well, so she had emergency shunt replacement/revision. They left the catheter tubing externally for now to drain to avoid any further risk for infection. Once she fights off everything and gets better they will take her back into surgery to replace the external shunt with a new one.

The length of Mia’s PICU stay is unknown. Paige had to make the tough decision to quit her job last month to stay home and care for Mia. With all of her ongoing medical needs and numerous specialty appointments, it would have been impossible for her to return to work at this time. While Paige is beyond excited to be able to stay home, that means one less income for their family. Now more than ever I know they would appreciate any and all help they can get financially. Mia will continue to need extra care throughout her life; including therapies, long-term monthly medications, doctor appointments and possibly more hospital stays in the future due to her condition.

So many of you have already been so generous and thoughtful—even those who do not know my sister and her family. I decided to create a Go Fund Me for those of you who are wanting to help or asking what you can do. Paige and Fernando were hesitant to let me go through with this, but with the amount of people reaching out, I thought this would be such a great opportunity and simple way for people to help out. Please do not feel obligated in any way to donate. Keep those prayers coming