On February 11th, 2010 I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Sienna Oraia. We had found out early on in our pregnancy that Sienna would be born with a rare birth defect called Gastroschisis. Gastroschisis is a condition that effects one in 2,500 births every year and the numbers are growing. The children are born with a hernia in their abdominal wall that exposes their intestines and sometimes other organs outside of their body. Little is known about the cause and prevention of this condition, though the outcome is usually a hopeful one. 90% of children who are born with this condition will go on to live a normal, healthy life. Sienna was blessed with the best outcome possible. She spent 5 weeks in the nicu and recovered swiftly from her surgery. She is the happiest, healthiest child you could imagine. If you met her today you would never imagine that anything had happened to her.
As you can imagine, going through a life changing event such as this leaves a permanent mark on your heart. I would be doing my family, and all the other families who have suffered and will suffer through this condition a disservice if I didn't commit to doing my part in raising awareness and support to further the cause of this condition. There are many families struggling with the financial burden that comes with having a child born with this life threatening birth defect. There is also much funding needed to study the cause and prevention of Gastroschisis. Please take a moment to learn a little bit about this condition and perhaps donate what you can to help the families struggling to get through this extremely scary time.
Here are a couple links you may be interested in browsing:
Sienna's Birthday  | Sienna at 5 months with her friend and fellow gastroschisis survivor Genevieve.  |
