A community of love and care empowered her to keep fighting

Due to an incompetent cervix, preterm premature rupture of membranes and later, a placental abruption, Aurora made her frighteningly beautiful emergence into this world at 24 weeks gestation. Weighing in at a mere one pound eight ounces and adorned with all of the accoutrements of medical emergency, she embodied simultaneously the fragility of life and an audacious will to live.

During Rory’s 290 day stay in the NICU, she was confronted with many obstacles: routine blood transfusions, bacterial infections, two bouts of pneumonia, oral aversion, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and laryngomalacia, among others. She eventually underwent a PDA ligation, tracheostomy tube placement, and gastrostomy tube placement. In a teary-eyed farewell, Rory became a NICU graduate on July 11.

Today, Rory is a vibrant, inquisitive, fun-loving three-and-a-half-year-old. She no longer requires ventilation, nor does she struggle with oral aversion. Her ongoing battle with an elliptically shaped cricoid cartilage has impeded the removal of her trach and consequently, her ability to speak. However, she has discovered how to force air around her trach, which results in audible sound and can handle her trach being capped for the majority of the day; we are also learning sign language. Rory’s warrior spirit is not only a testament to how fearfully and wonderfully God made her, but also how the community of love and care, cultivated by her biological and NICU families, has empowered her to continue fighting for her healing.