From the moment she entered the world on November 24th, 2025, Mila has captured the hearts of everyone around her. With a lovely smile, bright eyes & extremely long eyelashes, she brings joy to our lives every single day.
At just a few months old, our brave little one was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, a rare condition affecting the bile ducts that can lead to liver complications and/or failure. It has been a challenging journey – since being admitted to the hospital, she has gone through a large variety of complications. While her condition was aggressively deteriorating, it cornered us into our final/last option to put her on ECMO, which is a life-support machine that acts as an artificial heart and lung, removing blood to oxygenate it outside the body before returning it. In addition to that, she needed to be intubated and hooked up to a dialysis machine all in the same night to give her the maximum support. While it seemed like all else was failing, Mila did not give up on the fight and managed to pull through getting off of ECMO. After finally getting off of ECMO, she was immediately put back on the waiting list at the highest status she could receive based on her health condition.
While she will likely have her transplant soon, her medical care for liver needs will be life-long. We have partnered with COTA to assist with both transplant-related costs now and for any future transplant-related expense for the rest of her life. Mila has been so strong and resilient considering everything she has been through and continues to show how much of a warrior she is. She is currently receiving loving care from a large dedicated medical team that has been following her since day one. We are beyond blessed for all the support we have received from family and friends in this very difficult time. Thank you for taking the time to read about our sweet baby girl’s story. We continue to have faith, and we ask to keep her in your prayers.
The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy children and young adults. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.