“When you become a parent, you imagine doing everything “right” to protect your child. I was that mom—taking organic prenatal vitamins, cutting caffeine, following every guideline, and showing up to every class and appointment with my husband by my side. We were fully committed to nurturing and protecting our daughter long before she took her first breath.
Everything looked normal throughout my pregnancy. Every scan, every lab, every heartbeat was deemed healthy. At 20 weeks, her anatomy scan showed no cause for concern. We trusted the experts who reassured us she was perfectly fine.

But the moment Esther was born, everything changed. She came out blue, rushed from my arms to a team of doctors, intubated, and quickly transferred to a children’s hospital hours away. That day, we learned she had a complex heart defect—something somehow missed in all the ultrasounds and specialist visits. Within days, a preventable event caused organ failure and irreversible brain injury. Suddenly, our perfectly “healthy” baby was fighting for her life.

For nine long months, Esther remained in the hospital. She endured intubation, dialysis, a tracheostomy, and countless lifesaving procedures. She was eventually diagnosed with CHARGE Syndrome, multiple heart defects, and other complex medical needs. The prognosis was grim. Few believed she would survive, let alone come home.
But Esther did come home. She has endured over 40 hospitalizations, survived open-heart surgeries—including one that many didn’t believe she would live through—and continues to defy the odds. She is medically fragile, profoundly disabled, and requires around-the-clock care. And yet, she is here. Alive. A miracle.

Through it all, God has shown up again and again. I prayed boldly that my baby would come home alive, and He answered. Our family has walked through more valleys than I can count, but Esther’s life is a testament to resilience, faith, and love.

It hasn’t been easy. The sacrifices are heavy. But Esther has taught me more about hope, perseverance, and the heart of Jesus than I ever could have imagined. She is worth fighting for again and again and again. She is worthy of being loved, protected, nurtured, and dignified.

Project Mom Bags exists for moms like me. In those early hospital days, I desperately needed the comfort of a bag filled with essentials and reminders that I wasn’t alone. That’s why I now fight to make sure other moms have them. These bags matter. They provide a lifeline of hope and dignity in moments when everything feels overwhelming. Please consider sponsoring a bag or helping to assist your local Children’s Hospital in partnering with Project Mom Bags. Because every mom sitting beside a hospital bed deserves to know she is seen, cared for, and not alone.”