July 10^th, 2019 – Stella-Luna Lynn-Marie made her grand entrance into this world a happy, healthy, beautiful bright blue-eyed 5lb 6oz baby. 
Over the year she blossomed into a smart, sassy little toddler! 

July 10th of 2020 we celebrated her 1st birthday surrounded by friends & family enjoying cake, gifts & reminiscing.

July 15th just 5 days after her birthday, we noticed Stella starting to be sickly & not acting like herself. 

The most terrifying day of my life… July 17th, she gets chest X-rays & blood work. Turns out she has “a mild lung infection” – give her some antibiotics & she’ll be good in a couple days, right? Wrong. 20 minutes later, the pediatrician calls me again with the blood work results & she instructed us to go to the ER NOW. Confused, we headed there & I learn my sweet, HEALTHY baby is in FULL kidney failure.
We are rushed to UVM hospital in Vermont by ambulance to start hemodialysis immediately. That 1 week we spent there was when we thought we were going to lose our baby… NO IDEA how, what, why this was happening… & they weren’t even sure we would EVER know. 

After a week in UVM PICU & problem after problem with her hemodialysis, we then transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital. They got the machine problems fixed & placed a new HD line & we started moving forward with Peritoneal dialysis (which obviously can’t be used for 2 weeks after surgery.) 
We did some genetic testing & finally found the cause of Stella’s kidney failure! 

She has a gene called WT1. WT1 is a tumor suppressor gene responsible for Wilms’ tumor. This gene puts her at a HIGH chance of getting kidney cancer. So with that, we made the scary decision to have bilateral nephrectomies done. After my girl healed from that she is back to her happy, fun loving self & I cannot be happier!

October 2^nd, 2020
After 2 1/2 months of trial, error, & a roller coaster of emotions we finally completed PD training & got to bring our baby girl home!! 
Now we need our girl to grow, thrive & gain weight for her kidney transplant (which we are hoping I can donate to her!) in June or July of 2021! 

2021 update- Stella has done fantastic on PD & is growing good (height wise still struggling weight)
From the end of may to this month (July) she has been helicoptered to Albany med 3 times due to complications & the most recent being peritonitis (sadly very common in PD kids)

Our at-home routine is many meds – 8am, 3pm, 8pm – day after day (9 to be exact & one being a weekly shot to help her red blood cells) .
Dressing changes daily, blood pressures daily…
The sick stomachs from all the meds & discomfort from the fluid shift, the night terrors from all she endured in the hospital…
All the long sleepless nights of me & her father trying to comfort her.
10 hours a night on dialysis with a barely 3-foot cord.
Things are a lot different now than they once were. A lot of fear about infection or power outage for a small cord. All the things we take for granted on a daily basis are different now. 
I was once just a mother & now I am a mother & a nurse/caregiver, consoler, etc. 

With your help of a donation to COTA, my baby girl will be ONE single step closer to having a normal life.

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.