Esme's Brain Surgery

Esme was born on February 27th 2014 at 10:36am at St. Mary's Hospital. She weighed 7lbs and 15 oz. When she entered the world, she struggled to breath. As I held her in my arms, James and I patiently waited to hear her cry. A few seconds passed and she finally let up a soft weak cry. That was the first and last cry I would hear from her that day. They quickly took her and started working on her to help her breath. Nothing worked. The NICU team from St. Vincent’s quickly arrived and worked on her for hours. Approximately, five to six hours later, they strolled her into my room with her in a incubator. I was allowed to see her for a few minutes before they took her to St. Vincent’s Hospital. I found myself speechless and in shock that I could not hold my baby girl. For 9 months, I dreamt of holding her and doing skin to skin with her. I tried to be strong for her and held back my tears. We found out that she had a hole in her left lung. We were unsure if this was something that occurred while she was in my womb or if this had occurred because her left side of the body was stuck when I delivered her. Esme then spent the next seven days in NICU. Every day was a blessing knowing that God had blessed us with her but it was a struggle knowing that she was not home with us. James and I thought this would be our last health crisis for her. 

In mid February of this year, she was very ill with frequent fevers and this led to a seizure.  She was shaking on her entire left side of her body. She was awake but non-responsive. Scared, frantic and nervious, we rushed her into the ER at 2:45a in the morning. As James sped us to the ER, I held her limp body in my arms praying that she would be okay and that God will keep her safe. The doctor and nurses were unable to locate her vein, which made it difficult to stop the seizure. After about 40 minutes, they were finally able to give her medication and her seizure stopped. 

After three to four hours of waiting to make sure she was stabilized, we went home knowing that our daughter just had a seizure and that things will no longer be the same. Our doctor recommended that we see a neurologist to get an EKG testing done. When the results came back, we realized that she had abnormality activity in her left-brain. The neurologist then asked that we do an MRI on her. We completed this on April 10, 2015 and was advised that she has a cyst or tumor growing in her left brain. The size of the cyst/tumor was taking up 75-80 percent of her brain. Because there are no pediatric neurosurgeons in our area, we were advised to immediately schedule an appointment at the Children's Hospital in Milwaukee to get an extensive MRI done. 

We found out April 15, 2015 that Esme has a large cyst and a tumor in her left-brain. She is scheduled to undergo brain surgery for April 20, 2015. The cyst is large and is taking up most of the space. The tumor they located is believed to be causing the cyst to grow. We are hoping that they will be able to drain the cyst and remove the tumor. A biopsy will be required to see if the tumor is benign or cancerous. 

Esme has been in and out of hospitals and clinics throughout her 13 months with us. As new parents, you can only wish and pray that your children are healthy. With our current medical bills for her and new ones to come, we are financially stressed. We are so blessed to know that so many people love and care for Esme. We have seen so much support since she was born. As a result, we are hoping that our friends and family can help us financially through this difficult time. We are praying that God will continue to keep Esme close to Him during her surgery and recovery. 

We will keep everyone updated once she has surgery and once we receive more information on her biopsy results. 

Our family would like to thank you for your continuous support and prayers. 

Love,

 Esme, James and Panhia