Gift for Zoe

Zoe was diagnosed with a rare liver disease, Biliary Atresia, at 6 weeks old. At 8 weeks she had her first life-saving surgery known as the Kasai Procedure in order to restore liver function as much as possible and create a pathway for bile to start flowing. This procedure has allowed her to start growing, slowly but surely, and although it isn't working optimally, it is working well enough for the time being. At the time of Zoe's Kasai surgery, her liver was already very cirrhotic. Now, at 9 months old, her liver is harder than ever with reduced blood flow through it, which has caused her to have a large tummy and issues with blood rerouting itself around her liver. Transplant is the only treatment for Biliary Atresia, there is no cure. Despite the setbacks that come from having a chronic liver disease, we see her strength daily. She has a perfectly sweet personality that shines through, even when we know she isn't feeling 100 percent. We know that we have to sacrifice her being a bit behind developmentally right now in order to allow her to grow as much as possible for the best possible outcome with her transplant surgery. She is one strong little lady.

This shirt represents Zoe's gift of life. Not only is SHE a gift to us, but we know that when the time comes, she will be receiving a gift of life. The vital sign with the gift bow represents this. You can see a representation of one of Zoe's most beautiful features---her long eyelashes in the "O" in her name! The back simply shows her name meaning-LIFE! How appropriate for her. That was something that we didn't even know when we named her, and was brought to our attention during our month long stay in the hospital in April.