Welcome to the CaringBridge site for Abby Nighman. We (Lizzy and Kyle) have created it to keep friends and family updated as we approach and go through Abby's second major open-heart surgery on July 6th in Palo Alto, CA. We very much appreciate your prayers, support, and words of hope and encouragement during this time.
A bit of history... Abby was born at 35 weeks on October 1st, 2014, with a serious congenital heart defect - Pulmonary Atresia with VSD and MAPCAs (
http://www.rch.org.au/cardiology/parent_info/Pulmonary_Atresia_with_VSD_and_MAPCAs/). She spent much of the first few months of her life in a hospital bed as she battled things such as blood clots, MRSA, osteomyelitis, reflux, low blood oxygenation, a stroke (that she has fully recovered from!), seizures, and many other things.
She had her first open heart surgery in March of 2015, and to say it did not go according to plan would be an understatement. While the surgery itself was technically a success, her little body was totally ravaged from the stresses of 2 days of surgery, and the surgeon - through tears - told us she wouldn't likely make it through the next couple days. We were broken. And with no more options from some of the top doctors in one of the top facilities in the world, we could only pray. The living and active God of all created things would have to step in and save our baby girl.
And step in He did. By the next morning, we had doctors in Abby's ICU room saying - and I quote - "This is a whole new baby!!!" with hands raised and giant smiles of joy and relief. Abby has been given a story to tell... a song to sing... a reason to shout for joy... she is a happy, sassy, unbearably cute 19-month-old who has no idea of the wonders God has done in and through her life. Through this sweet little girl's life, God has given us and many others a reason to "Be Brave" - not because of anything we can muster up in ourselves, but because He is good, and He has power over life, death, and everything in between.
