Akaila was born May 10, 2001. She was born with no complications, but developed difficulty breathing and had to be put in the NICU. They later intubated her that night because she kept pulling off her CPAP. The next morning the intensivist heard a murmur and decided to call the pediatric cardiologist. After the echo the cardiologist came to talk to me about what they found. "Your daughter is very sick with a rare heart defect call Hypoplastic Left heart syndrome" they said. As they were talking to me the helicopter from UVA medical center was already on its way to pick up Akaila to take her for an emergency heart catherization to keep her alive through the weekend. On Monday they would perform her first open heart surgery at just 4 days old.