One-of-a-Kind Sophia Marie Gonzalez

Sophia Marie was born on February 5th, 2022. Before her birth, she gave her mommy and daddy lots to worry about, but they did not expect to spend Sophia's first few months in NICU. When Sophia was born, she could not breathe. They immediately took Sophia to NICU at Wesley and put her on a breathing tube. They first diagnosed sweet Sophia with Choanal Atresia, meaning she had a blockage in her nasal passages. Her doctors also had concerns regarding a genetic disorder. Sophia was airlifted to Children's Mercy in KC before she was a day old, followed by her daddy to take care of her while mommy recovered. From the moment Sophia arrived at Children's Mercy, she was very busy with many tests along with MRIs, CT scans, labs, and X-rays. At first, they thought Sophia Marie had Schinzel-Gideon syndrome due to her abnormalities. This disorder is extremely rare, and only 50 kids in the world have ever been diagnosed with it. She was initially given a short life expectancy, but her mommy and daddy, along with many prayers, waited for genetic testing to prove otherwise.

While waiting on her results, Sophia waited on her nasal surgery for several weeks until they received her genetic testing. The results came back proving she did not have this rare disorder but showed that there isn't any other baby like her in the entire world, a true one-of-a-kind blessing. She has an unbalanced complex chromosome disorder that can't even be named, but the doctors say she will live a full life but with challenges that they aren't sure of. She has had 3 nasal surgeries to open up her airway, which is common. Sophia is still on a breathing tube and is hoping to have it removed soon.

Anthony, Taylor, and Sophia have been in Kansas City for 8 weeks. They have been blessed to stay at the Ronald McDonald house. Anthony returned back to work at the beginning of March and Taylor will need to return to her job in May. Anthony will be traveling back and forth from Western Kansas to Kansas City every weekend. Any help will be appreciated for this sweet family; doctor bills are starting to pile up and with the price of gas/diesel, help on traveling expenses would also be amazing. Anthony has grown up in our community and spent his childhood serving his community, whether it was in their family restaurant or helping local farmers and ranchers. They both have a heart of gold and are overjoyed with the love and prayers they have felt from everyone.

They know that God molded Sophia into a strong fighter and that he has plans for their sweet girl. They both said they trust that God will watch over her during her journey and they are reminded daily how blessed they are.

They are not sure when Sophia will be able to come home, so any help you can leave will be amazing, also leave a sweet note of encouragement for them if you can. I know they will appreciate it more than you will ever know. Thank you so much!