Alanah’s Recovery

Alanah is the bravest, happiest, and smartest child we know! Alanah was born at a petite 3lbs, 15oz, and spent twelve days in NICU. A few months later, she was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis (skull fusion).  With Craniosynostosis, the skull is fused and it cannot expand with growth, thus causing pressure on the brain, and distorting the shape of the head, eye sockets, and nose.  When she was just nine months old, she underwent a corrective procedure to reconstruct her skull and facial bones so that it would grow with her as she got older.  She again went through this procedure when she was four years old. All seemed well, until Alanah was to start kindergarten. During her examination the doctors determined that Alanah had lost almost all eyesight in one of her eyes due to the pressure and  from the Craniosynostosis that caused her eye to be misshapen and lose muscle strength. She now wears eyeglasses at all times and must wear an eyepatch over her strong eye, in hopes of strengthening the weaker eye's muscles and avoiding another eye surgery. During this visit, it was also diagnosed that she had an Atrial Septal Defect (a hole in the wall between the top chambers of her heart) and was referred to a specialist. On October 4, 2012, Alanah's doctors at CHKD attempted to perform a less evasive heart procedure to fix her ASD. Sadly, the procedure failed, as the hole in her heart is much bigger than expected. Alanah is now scheduled for open heart surgery on Thursday, October 11, 2012. Her Mommy will not be able to return to work due to Alanah's around-the-clock care that she will need. Since Alanah cannot have people coming into the home and increasing her chances of infections, we are trying to lift the financial burden from her parents, so they can focus on Alanah's medical care only. Please help us in blessing her so that she may have her Mommy with her during her lengthly recovery.

FROM ALANAH'S HEART TO YOURS!

Thank you and God Bless!