Our sweet granddaughter, Noelle Elizabeth, was born on August 5, 2024, at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh with multiple serious health challenges. Doctors discovered that the entire left side of her brain was underdeveloped, her corpus callosum was missing, and a large cyst had formed on the left side. She was also diagnosed with Dandy-Walker syndrome.
Noelle spent the first 7 weeks of her life in the NICU. During that time, she underwent throat surgery and had a feeding tube placed. Just weeks after coming home, Noelle began experiencing infantile spasms, which quickly progressed into severe seizures. Despite trying multiple medications, the seizures worsened. Her medical team made the difficult recommendation to perform surgery to disconnect the left and right sides of her brain — a step taken to protect the healthy right side.
The surgery was a success! Noelle went four beautiful weeks without seizures — she was smiling, laughing, and making progress in physical therapy. But recently, she became lethargic and unresponsive. After an urgent call to her doctors, she was rushed back to Pittsburgh for emergency brain surgery to relieve pressure caused by fluid buildup, followed by another surgery to place a permanent shunt.
Noelle is the daughter of Tristian and Skylar, two incredibly loving and devoted parents who have been by her side through every step. She also has an amazing big brother, Graysen, who is three years old and adores his little sister.
This fundraiser is to help cover the mounting medical bills and support this young family as they continue to take time off work and travel back and forth to Pittsburgh for appointments, surgeries, and hospital stays.
Your prayers, love, and any amount of financial support mean the world to us. Thank you for helping Noelle and her family through this incredibly challenging journey.
