Link to team shirts: https://www.customink.com/fundraising/strong-like-mia

This Heart Walk team is in honor of our daughter Mia, our heart warrior in heaven.

Mia was strong from the beginning. We were told at 10 weeks gestation that she had a 5% chance of survival. Mia surprised everyone, continuing to grow and thrive. We learned at 18 weeks that she had complex Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). Her already large medical team continued to grow. Our friends and family covered Mia in prayer and shared her story. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of people praying for her health and safety daily.

We traveled to California before her birth, seeking the most specialized care possible. She was born on 12/26/2024 pink and crying. She was perfect. After thorough imaging, we later learned her diagnoses included infradiafragmatic TAPVR, mild HLHS, and pulmonary stenosis (to name a few).

Although Mia had several extremely complex heart anomalies, she did incredibly well in her first week of life. They kept decreasing her oxygen support until she was on room air. We got to hold her, talk with her, read to her, and get to know her during that time. She was so intelligent, beautiful, and STRONG.

Folks kept telling us how strong we were being so content and joyful. We quickly adopted the phrase "strong like Mia" as our response. We were just so grateful to God that she was doing so well. We had been preparing for months for the worst-case scenario. She brought us the greatest joy; This time with her was truly a gift.

Then, Mia's status began to change and she declined rapidly. She had episodes of oxygen desaturation that progressively got worse and were harder to recover from. Mia underwent open heart surgery at just 11 days old. Although the TAPVR repair was successful, Mia's body did not recover. While on ECMO with her chest still open, she became sicker and sicker. She passed away on 01/10/2025.

Join us in walking to raise awareness for CHD, and/or raising funds to support research, programs, and initiatives that may help babies like Mia in the future.