Hannah West

   Hello, my name is Melissa and I would love to introduce you to my 15 year old daughter, Hannah. She has been through a lot this past year. Not only was she born with Trisomy 13 (a condition considered not compatible with life).  The doctors told me that she would not make it past birth if she even made it that far.  She was also born with Spinabifida.  In November 2016 she was diagnosed with chronic heart failure with Thrombous (blood clots) in both the chambers of her heart.  She had to have emergency open heart surgery to remove three clots, one of them being the size of a golf ball. She suffered multiple complications following the surgery, causing her to cardiac arrest twice, causing her to have kidney failure and being placed on Dialysis, she then had to have a tracheostomy to help her breathe and G/J tube placed for feeding and medications.  
Hannah spent 6 months at Riley's Children's hospital in the PICU and recently got to come home, but every day is new challenges and triumphs!  She is honestly the strongest person I know.  Every day she has the brightest smile on her face no matter what the days plans are.  Her days include multiple doctor appointments, going to the lab for weekly blood tests, weekly EKG's, several times a day having to have her dressing changed, which is incredibly painful for her! She has the absolute best personality and you can't help but fall in love with her!!