Zoe

Our baby girl, Zoe Gutierrez, was born premature on May 10, 2020. In her six months of life, she has already had 13 surgeries. She is on her 5th shunt and it looks like this last one finally worked.

Zoe’s first four months of life have not been easy. In fact, she spent them in the hospital. While in the hospital, her doctors tried both VP and VA shunts. One of her shunts got infected and Zoe ended up going into septic shock. The doctors told us several veins had been damaged in her head, which could mean that Zoe could possibly be paralyzed. Then, when they tried the VP shunt, it created a fungus in her peritoneal cavity. Eventually her doctors got everything under control. There were some very scary moments, but she survived and we were finally able to bring her home.

Zoe has been through so much and is the strongest person I know. Several times, we were told to be prepared for the worst. Luckily, today Zoe is home and is all smiles and loving her milk.

We live in a small city with no doctors nearby who can treat her condition so every time she’s gotten sick, they have to fly her to Phoenix, AZ for emergency care. Zoe came to us one month after her grandfather passed away. The second she came, we saw her and she is the exact image of her grandpa. Zoe will always remind us of him. We feel lucky to have Zoe. She was created thanks to in vitro and it took 10 years for my wife and I to meet the baby of our dreams. She is the most beautiful baby my eyes have ever seen and will one day conquer the world.

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