“They not only cured my baby, but also surrounded her with pure love. It was an experience that changed our lives.” – Ella’s Mom

Ella was born in Tucson, Arizona. She cried constantly and needed rounds of sugar checks for being “a big baby”. I did not understand the good reasons for sugar checks. Ella did not want to eat; little did I know this was a sign of her starving brain due to hyperinsulinism.

 
I could hardly take it. When the nurse checked Ella’s sugar, it was 19. I thought she was wrong. The recheck was lower. The poor doctor felt my pain. He explained why it was necessary for Ella to enter the NICU.

I dragged myself to the NICU with my c-section healing telling myself it would be over soon and I would take my baby home as God intended. But, what do I know about what God intends?

The uncertainty of her condition continued. She moved to the PICU where the endocrine team recognized hyperinsulinism. The diazoxide worked at first and then it didn’t, same for octreotide. It was time to transfer. Dr. Patel comforted me, saying Dr. Thornton was the wizard of Oz of HI and Ella would be well taken care of.

When the Teddy Bear transport team arrived I knew this was God’s plan. A crowd of nurses hovered over Ella and just loved her. They knew exactly what to do. We completed genetic testing, the 18FDOPA PET scan pinpointing her focal lesion and went to surgery. They not only cured my baby, but also surrounded her with pure love. In two weeks at Cook Children’s our lives changed. The team was a blessing to our family.

 
Dr. Thornton was on top of everything, even on his days off!! I will never forget when doctor “Baby Face” Uffman, the surgeon, said Ella was the break he had been waiting for. I wish I could express what I felt the moment I was able to hold my child without cords attached. That moment Ella latched to eat like she never had.  The rollercoasters of emotions were over and Ella could go back to Tucson. It was hard to leave a group of people who had become family. I owe them for my healthy daughter and getting out of post-partum depression.

Ella loves smiling, playing with her big brother and her dogs. Her surgery scar reminds me of how great she is. Her will to live taught me the most. She is my drive, my inspiration, my super girl.