Caroline May Sweet Caroline

Caroline was born on 10/26/2015, a healthy and happy 7 pound 14 ounce baby girl. Like all other mom's, Christine was very observant of the daily changes of her first born. On Caroline's 4 week check up, her pediatrician noticed that Caroline looked jaundice and noted her mothers cincern if caroline not gaining weight. The peditrician sent mom and baby to the hospital right away for testing. Caroline was admitted immediately and lots of tests were run. After being in the PICU for 2 weeks, Caroline was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia. This is a condition in which inflammation develops within the bile ducts. This leads to bile duct damage, reduced flow of bile, and causes extensive damage to the liver. With this diagnosis, Caroline was transferred to Jackson Memorial in Miami for more extensive testing and surgery. While in Miami, Kasai portoenterostomy was preformed on Caroline to reduce inflammation. This surgery is known as a bandaid until later needing a transplant. She came through the 5 hour surgery like a champ, but she had extensive scarring on her liver and she will need a new liver as soon as she can reach 20 pounds. Caroline is now 11 weeks old and was once again admitted back into PICU with complications of Kasai surgery. One of her bile ducts became backed up and contained bacteria and went into her blood. Luckily this was caught in enought time, but has required 3 weeks of hospitalization.
This is going to be a long road for Caroline and her loving parents. Mom lost her job dye to continued extensive medical care for Caroline. Christine was unable to go back to work to her full time job due to the illness of Caroline. Her job was not willing to work with her on any circumstances. Caroline is a fighter and she will require lots of care. All the support and love is appreciated!