Prayers for Aletheia

Team fundraiser

Kelsi Potochney and Brii Paige are organizing this fundraiser.

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I am mother of 2 beautiful littles. This is my daughter Aletheia. She is 3 weeks old. She was born on January 28, 2023 at 37 weeks and 2 days. When she was born she had complications with jaundice as well as a thickened pulmonary valve and PFO. She was in the hospital for 8 days before coming home. Only a day and a half later when we went to her first pediatric appointment was it found out that she had an infection in her eye. The doctor thought that it was staph infection. She was referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist and they gave me alarming news that this infection in her eye was spreading throughout her entire cornea and possibly her entire eye. They encouraged me to immediately go to Chicago to see a cornea specialist. Upon her arrival they did a series of testing and immediately started her on iv antiviral/bacterial antibiotics and specialty eye drops. After almost a week of waiting, I was given news that my daughter tested positive for HSV2.. my heart was broken and I was adamant that I didn’t have this virus. You can be a carrier and have no symptoms. HSV1 and HSV2 are very dangerous for babies to have, and they are also very rare. The outcomes for most babies aren’t good ones..

My daughter has an amazing care team, and the ophthalmologists that are working with her are in the top 10 in the world. They have been giving her the best possible care that I could ask for and more than that for my baby and I’m grateful for that. Upon those results they had to do a spinal tap to test for levels of the virus in her body. Because they had been treating her for a week prior and this is a critical condition some of the testing came up negative ( the virus in her brain) and also the virus in her blood ( is positive) which is common in this condition especially in infants. Today they found a pigmentation in her left eye in her retina and are concerned about it. She is going to get an MRI on her brain to check if the virus has affected it. Because of how critical this condition is and how quickly they needed there could be other symptoms that are there but are already being treated because of the medication she is being given. If this virus is in her brain it can cause mental delay and developmental delay.

The virus thus far is in her blood, her nose and in her right eye. Her right eye has been severely impacted and due to the infection in her cornea her eye is completely scarred. She will unfortunately be permanently vision impaired. The scar covers a great portion of her cornea over her lens and so with that comes immense impairment.

Aside from that I can say she is gaining weight, she is eating and the Doctors believe she is one of the BEST cases they have seen with babies who have contracted HSV. Once I have the results of the MRI I will be updating my page.

Right now, I am staying in the Ronald McDonald house and I am really grateful for all of the staff as well as the doctors and social workers who have been a great support for my daughter and I.

This GoFundMe me has been created to help my family an I secure our home, pay for medical expenses as well as transport from the RMH to UOI and parking expenses. Please send prayers and healing to this sweet girl. She’s been a fighter since she’s been born.