Two-year-old Yelitza might look like a typical toddler, but it’s been a tough road for her.
“I was pregnant with six months in and I was told they found the AV canal defect,” said Yelitza’s mom, Maricela Herrera Saiza. “It was just like a waiting thing. Like, is she gonna die? You know, is the pregnancy still gonna be going? You know, even when she’s born maybe the next day she can pass away.”
So Maricela turned to her faith and three months later Yelitza was born. However, just one month later the family almost lost their little girl.
“All I remember doing was picking her up and I remember she just let go of her little body in my arms and her eyes rolled back and I told my husband, ‘She’s not responding,'” Herrera Saiza explained.
That night the family ended up at Phoenix Children’s hospital.
“I let them know, my baby has AV canal defect and right away Phoenix Children’s hospital just got her into a room,” said Herrera Saiza.
That led to the first of two open heart surgeries for Yelitza. A long process that felt personal to Herrera Saiza, thanks to the family touch at the hospital.