Julie Kruse
jkruse@wdio.com
July 08, 2015 10:32 PM
On May 28th, eight days after Aria Rose's first birthday, the unthinkable happened; she stopped breathing.
An ambulance rushed her to Essentia Health in Duluth. Doctors told her her father, Joshua Grams, she was having mini heart attacks. Aria was air lifted to the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. She suffered more heart attacks, a stroke, blood transfusions, a lung infection, cardiac arrest and more.
"It's because she has restrictive cardiomyopathy," said Grams. "It took them weeks to figure it out. They don't even know the cause or cure or treatment."
On June 7th, the little girl went into heart failure, so doctors placed her on an ECMO machine to bypass her heart and lungs. Three days later, she was air lifted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,and soon after that, tragedy struck again as the machine malfunctioned. Aria had to be rushed into emergency surgery.
"They had to stitch all of this [her chest] up which was just a mess," said Grams. "I think the doctor called it a blood bath."
Now Aria is on the nationwide waiting list for a new heart leaving the family, including brothers Tristan and Noah praying for a miracle.
"We just want to make sure that she can see her second birthday," Grams said.
However, Aria is strong and, if you ask her grandmother, Billi Van Ert, her will to live keeps the rest of the family going. She believes Aria will win her fight.
"In spite of all the draw backs and pull backs she keeps pulling through and miracles keep happening," said Van Ert. "She's coming home."
A GoFundMe site is set up to help the family with their medical expenses. It also provide more details on Aria's condition.
Julie Kruse
jkruse@wdio.com
Updated: July 08, 2015 10:32 PM
Created: July 08, 2015 04:38 PM
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